Date: 2005-10-10
From: Cooper Brook Falls Lean-To

To: Wadleigh Stream Lean-To
Miles today: 21.5
Weather: light rain

Today was a death march. We haven't done one in a while so we were about due. The weather has been miserable for the past 4 days and we have all been wet and cold. We decided that if we pushed hard for 2 solid days then we would be in a warm dry hotel room. That was our first motivation.We leisurely woke up as the rain still fell outside. Another morning that it was hard to get moving. We plugged the Mp3 player into the speakers and motivated by listening to Regulators while we packed up. We decided that we were going to push the 21 miles. We were all out of camp and cruising along by 9:30. The terrain was mellow and we were able to put the miles behind us quickly. Piker hasn't been feling very well so we just kept up a steady pace. By 1:30 we had made it to a shelter, our first designated break of the day. Dready & Blaze were already there having lunch while Sampson staked out a chipmunk that seemed to be playing with him. A quick lunch and we were on our way by 2:00. Our next big obstacle of the day was a ford. Supposedly our last ford of the hike--hell yeah!! We were starring at the rushing stream before we knew it. There were some logs placed around the rocks crossing the stream but they looked really slippery and slanted. Piker went for it first and a few steps out slipped right in. After that we all just plunged into the water for the first part. The second half we were able to rock and log hop across. We were across quick but still had wet feet. We took a celebratory break after our last ford. 7.5 miles to go. We all put it in high gear and cruised over slippery roots and rocks trying to avoid huge puddles in the middle of the trail. We took another break to get water about 3.5 miles from the shelter. The rain had held off for most of the afternoon and we were hoping that it would stay that way until we arrived at the shelter. The trail is so slippery and everyone took a lot of falls today. Piker took 4 alone. Luckily only a few scrapes and bruises. We rocked out the last miles and got to the shelter right as darkness fell. We were so happy to be home for the night. We all unpacked quickly and set up. Dinner soon followed. We are all totally wiped out and ready for bed. I'm a bit freaked out because a mouse just came running out from the shadows of the shelter. Yuck!!! Don't worry though Blaze smacked it with his trusty Wingfoot book and when it hit the floor he grabbed it by the tail and flung it from the shelter. The mouse seemed to be alright though and scampered off. So all you animal lovers have nothing to fear. The mouse was not injured in the process, simply removed from the shelter. I don't want to start any kind of controversy here :-)Atleast there was one less mouse to be running all over us tonight on the endless pursuit of food. Hopefully Sampson will be on guard. We have another long day planned for tomorrow. We are savoring our final moments out here and our also ready to summit K-Dog. Its been a long time coming. We will miss living with Dready, Blaze and Sampson though. We have become such a big happy family and we feel so blessed to have met such wonderful people, we know that we will always be friends. Goodnight for now!!                                 Ms. Mileage