Date: 2021-07-06
From: South Arm Rd (mile 246.8)

To: East B Hill Rd (mile 256.9)
Miles today: 10.3

Swan cooked up a large breakfast of pancakes, eggs, and sausage to send us on our way. Alias (formerly Falcon Punch and many other names), Joseph and I went off the slackpack ten miles around Andover.I packed out pancakes, brownies, and a hamburger in case I ran across Prepack and Beach Day. It was cloudy and threatened rain all day but never came through. But the humidity was impossible to escape. Despite cresting only two mountains, Moody and Wyman - both under 3000 feet - this dayhike kicked my butt. The climbs were all steep, the descents were steeper, and I don't remember any level stretches. The humidity didn't help. I calculated we climbed 2100 feet from Sawyer Brook to reach Wyman's peak, elevation 2900. The climb into the Presidential Range is less. But it was great exercise for the quads, and the trail was less technical than the Bemis range. We never did find Beach Day and Prepack.In fact we only passed a handful of hikers. An old section hiker by Sawyer Brook out for a couple months, taking his time to Katahdin. A lean guy named Jonathan at Hall Mountain Lean-to who's been section hiking for 17 years, belying his youthful appearance. A tall dark-bearded northbounder named Buck being slacked by his visiting parents. It was already 1 pm when we crossed paths with him but he was entertaining the idea of doing the ten miles we'd just done plus 13 more. I can't imagine. My feet already hurt. I passed several clusters of tents belonging to two trail crews. The first was quarrying and placing rock steps. The second was crushing rock with hammers to make travel for bog bridges. Both crews climbed up the mountain each day with 50 pound packs of equipment to perform their unpaid work.I jumped in Surplus Pond along the way to the road. A bit chilly compared to other ponds but still refreshing. Swim count is up to 21 days in a row.Don was waiting at the road to whisk us back to Andover for lunch and on to the Cabin. I had the lobster roll at Mills Market. I'm almost out of Maine and hadn't tried one yet. Viewmaster and Just Maine were there with Maine's sister from Massachusetts. Viewmaster is continuing on trail tonight but Just Maine is headed back to the EMS near Pittsburgh. Sounded like she had mixed emotions.New hikers at the Cabin: northbounders Halo, Pippin, Dirty Mike, Squid, and No Shame. They made no bones about wanting to be done and being tired of the trail. They hung out all afternoon watching movies and moving as little as possible.Big dinner of ham, corn, pineapple sauce, sweet potatoes, and salad (green food? What's that?) The massive dining table was milled from pines on the property and assembled and lacquered by thruhikers over 20 years ago. Since then the underside has been signed by countless hikers, including the first thruhiker Earl Schaffer in his final years.Tomorrow it's back on trail to get to Grafton Notch and the town of Bethel. A hurricane or tropical storm is headed up the coast and likely to dump rain here on Thursday or Friday so trying to plan around that. The toughest stretch of the AT lies just beyond Grafton Notch.