Date: 2013-08-07
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: "The Cookie Lady" & Roy's House, Washington Mtn Rd
Miles today: 11.1

Boy, did I sleep well last night. I heard the caretaker stirring about, but I didn't get up until after 6:30. I'd heard the night before that pancakes would be served at 7:00 a.m., but by the time I got to the cabin the "seconds" line had already formed. Pete, the caretaker was cooking them up three at a time. Pressure-D gave me his plate, and I ended up eating 6. Yum! Afterwards, Pete told me about a sand beach with another floating dock. He said there was "no dress code." I knew what he meant. LOL. I walked down the little hill to the water. The morning sun was glistening off the water. The dock formed a nice dark "T" shape on the water. My clothes just seemed to fall off. The water felt fantastic. The whole place has such a pure, wholesome feel to it. I could stay for days. Apparently that's not uncommon. I wished I had some zero days to kill, because this would be THE place to do it. I crawled back on the floating dock and sat for a moment to dry off. Something in the sky caught my eye. It was a bald eagle soaring through the tree tops. It swooped out over the lake and then back into the trees. It made a few of these passes. I watched mesmerized. The last eagle I'd seen was in the New York zoo, forever caged with its broken, damaged wing. This eagle only knew freedom. I closed my eyes and felt the warmth of morning sun on my face. Soon it would be time to start walking again.It was 9:30 by the time I set off. The profile was flat once you crossed over I-90 and up Becket Mountain. But the profile was deceiving. There were lots and lots of roots, plenty of rocks and even more PUDS. I found it impossible to ever get into a hiking rhythm. My feet hurt pretty bad. I got to the Finerty Pond a little before noon. My stomach was growling despite the pancake feast. I decided to stop for a quick swim and lunch break. As soon as I got my clothes off, the sky clouded over. This seems to be the case most of the time. There were clouds that looked like flying saucers and other clouds that looked like flying saucers could burst out of them at any second. After lunch, there were lots of boardwalks and marshy areas. The forest would open and close around them. I made neither good time, nor bad. But just never seemed to find my groove. I ran out of water just before Washington Mtn Rd. The guidebook said that the "Cookie Lady" and her husband lived just up the road. They allowed hikers to fill water out of their spigot, and often times she would have fresh baked cookies. I decided to stop in. She was outside watering her plants. She ducked inside and reemerged with a basket of cookies. We visited for a bit, and she found out that my husband and I live in Watertown, NY. She said her husband, Roy, was originally from Antwerp, just a few miles up the road. She encouraged me to go say hello to him. He was outback splitting firewood. I could hear the engine of log splitter roaring. I walked over to where he was. He was an older gentleman, late 70s or early 80s. He was short with a strong, tight body. He was hunched over a pile of split wood, trying to stack it in a covered shed. I stood to the side, not really knowing what to do. He didn't see me, nor could he hear me over the noise of the log splitter. Finally, I decided I could help. I picked up a couple of pieces of wood and started to hand them to him. Without a word, we started stacking wood until the disorganized pile was neatly stacked in the shed. We stepped off to the side, and I introduced myself. We talked for a while about the "North Country" of upstate New York. I could see it brought back some fond memories for him. While we were talking, a guy walked up. He looked familiar to me, but I wasn't sure where I'd met him before. I could tell he was waiting to speak with Roy, so I shook Roy's hand and excused myself. The guy walked up and introduced himself to Roy as "Awol", the writer of the guidebook I'd been using. A celebrity spotting! I tinkered with my pack, and soon Awol walked over to where I was. We talked for a bit, and he offered me some kettle corn. Heck, yes! Kettle corn, from Awol no less! I walked back over to say good-bye to Roy. He looked disappointed and asked, "Aren't you staying?" I felt terrible. It was only 4:00 pm, and I'd only gone 11 miles. I explained that I needed to cover some more miles today, my husband was coming home soon, and we were racing towards Katahdin. He said okay and wished me luck. I felt like a dirt-bag walking back to the trail head. I stood at the trail, eating my kettle corn, and I thought, I've been wanting to repay a fraction of the hospitality and generosity that I've been shown. And here's an opportunity. I could really be of some use around this place. Even a couple of hours of work could really help these people out. So I walked back to the farm. I found Roy just where I'd left him. I told him I would happily do some work around the place, anything they needed done I'd be happy to do. He said alright and pointed to the pile of split wood that needed stacking. So I started stacking wood and hauling cut up logs to the log splitter so that Roy could just keep splitting. We split and slacked would for the next hour or so. Then the Cookie Lady came back out and said that they had a meeting to go to. Roy filled the engine with fuel and then turned the whole operation over to me. And he and the Cookie Lady drove away. For the next 2 hours I split and stacked firewood. It made me think of my brother. We used to love running the log splitter. How young were we? I couldn't remember, but it sure seemed young. And that made me laugh. Heavy machinery in the hands of kids. Would kids these days know how to do it? I don't know. Around 7:15, the engine started to sputter. It was out of gas, and so was I. I stacked the rest of the wood, and then headed to the house. Roy and the Cookie Lady weren't back yet, but they'd said that I could sleep in the old house at the front of the property. It was pretty run down, but at least it would be out of the rain. I called to order a pizza, thinking that would be my reward to myself. Soon I heard the car drive up. Roy saw me and asked, You're still here? Yep, I was still here. I took me for a tour of the inside of their house. The Cookie Lady saw me and asked, You're still here? Yep, I was still here. They asked if I'd like dinner. I said no thank you, I'd ordered a pizza. Roy said that was strange, because usually the pizza delivery wouldn't drive out to their place. They asked if I'd like a shower. I also declined, I wanted to be there for the pizza guy. So I said good-night and headed to the old house. I took out and my phone and saw that I had three missed calls. I called the number. It was the pizza place saying they were sorry, they don't deliver that far out. They were going to have to cancel my order. Damn. I set up my bed in the old run down kitchen of the house. The ceiling was collapsing in, and I didn't dare go barefoot. The carpet was screaming staph infection. I went to use the bathroom. There was no running water. The toilet wouldn't flush, but there was a note tapped to the back of the toilet saying to dump a bucket of water directly into the toilet bowl to make it flush. There were a half dozen buckets, some with water some without, sitting on the floor in front of the toilet. I tried, it didn't work. I was really starting to question my decision to stay. At this point, the woods feel a little cleaner and safer. I managed to cook up a dinner without burning the old house down around me. As I lay in "bed" (a cot with my sleeping bag on top), I can hear the rain falling on the roof, seeping through the ceiling and hitting carpet. I might very well have been drier if I'd pitched my tent. Oh well. It makes for a good story. I'm pretty pooped.