Date: 2004-08-16
From: Jerome Brook

To: Rivers & Trails Hostel
Miles today: 17.4

This morning started before 6am. One reason was the ferry. That's right, there's a ferry across the Kennebec River. The river is wide and fairly deep and subject to random dam releases. The ferry runs for most of the day but still the hours are limited. According to notes in the shelters, the hours of operation for the ferry this year are from 9-11am and 2-4pm every day during the summer. The Kennebec was still 17 miles away so it behooved me to get an early start. And an early start it was at 7am. Amazing.The trail brought me to West Carry Pond by 8am. Clouds were lifting off the water and the water was still. Between the clouds and the reflections, this was a most picturesque place. Then too there was the utter stillness of this early morning scene. Combined with the various shades of gray in the sky, it all looked like a water color painting.The register at Carry Pond Lean-to was a welcome sight. Spending the last 2 nights in pristine camp sites meant that this was the first I had seen in 2 days. That was strange. Lots of the shelters around here had strips of translucent corrugated fiber glass in their roofs. That afforded a lot of light in the shelter. Nice job Maine ATC. There was an older couple here just packing up to go. We had a good talk. They were taking the trail at their speed and having a great time.From 9:45am till past 10am the trail followed the shore of East Carry Pond. This was nice. The day was gray but not threatening. As I walked, the sound of a loon got louder till it was really loud. My searching eye found it really close to the shore. Wait a minute, this guy wasn't shutting up and my camera could do movies with sound. It took some fiddling to find the video mode but it worked and I got the video complete with loon calls. The the batteries died. By the time the charged batteries were in the loon had dove and was far away but still I got the Loon movie. Cool.The hiking through this area was really nice, nothing real exciting, just pleasant with evergreen forests and ponds. A couple of hours later brought me to Pierce Pond Lean-to.The journal at the shelter had entries from Road Runner and Nobody & Alright earlier today. They must be just ahead. No Worries & Minus One were here at Pierce Pond Lean-to getting ready to leave. They had stopped for lunch and a swim and were killing some time before heading for the ferry. I hadn't seen these girls for a month. They explained that they were running out of time do to some prior commitment and had skipped 90 miles but planned to get those miles later. It made them pretty unhappy and there seemed to be some tension between them that hadn't been there before. It might have been the Whites that they skipped. Surely they would get back to it. They left me to my lunch.The thought of a swim in this beautiful pond was tempting but it was a sunless early afternoon and after some lunch of course, it was time to head for the ferry.The trail skirted around the lake on a strange stone reinforced wood dam. Later it follow down along an exciting cascade till that brook found the Kennebec River. The trail descended a huge set of wood stairs to reach the banks of the Kennebec. Yup, that was a big river. It reminded me of adventures with Chris G in the Brooks Range of Alaska. Only, there was a guy on the far shore. He tossed a canoe into the water when he saw me and proceeded to pole his way across. It was clear there would be a ferry here but just what that meant was not clear. Steve Longley was the ferryman. With the exception of 2003 he has been the ferryman for a great many years. Canoes are no stranger to me having gone on a few week long canoe camping trips. that's not to mention aquatics day every Friday at Voyageurs in camp. I placed my pack in the canoe and climbed in. He expertly poled back across the river. It was only 3pm. He asked where I was headed. I told him I hoped to stay at the hostel he ran.He was on duty for another hour till 4pm so we hung out on the bank there. He's a talkative character but that's good. He sure has plenty of stories to tell about thru-hikers, the crossing and the river. Apparently there used to be 3 ferries operating around here. This was a major shipping lane with Canada.No one else came through that day. We hiked up to his truck. He drove me to his place and showed me the little bunkhouse cabin out back. In addition to the thru-hiker bunkhouse he had 3 little housekeeping cabins to rent to tourist and a few campsites for car camping.He also had a little camp store on the first floor of the house. He said he only opened the store on the weekends and for thru-hikers. Sure enough he opened it for me. It was pretty well stocked for a thru-hiker's needs. I even found some frozen bagels and ice cream of course. He even let me use his computer un-hassled upstairs in his room to catch up on email and send AT Update 12. Granted it was a slow land line connection but he didn't even charge. He offered the use of one of the cabins to cook my dinner and for a shower once he got the septic system fixed. There was a big ditch he had made with a backhoe in an attempt to unearth the problem. Eventually he said I could take a shower to test his fix out. The test proved that he still had some work to do but the shower was great.Some friends of his were camping on the property and having a barbecue. He invited me to join them but I declined. Sleep seemed a better idea, after all, beer and beast weren't my idea of a good time. No doubt they had a good time though.There were bunks for 3, complete with bedding, in the bunkhouse. The place had electric lights, a couple of tables, a case full of books and it was all mine. Granted the day ended early but it was still 17.4 miles and this would be a comfy night.