Date: 2004-08-07
From: Sidney Tappan Campsite, Maine

To: West Branch of the Pleasant River, Maine
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: light rain

7.3 miles todayStealth tent siteWest Branch of the Pleasant River, MaineIt rained quite a bit last night. I set my tent up on grass, so I knew it would be wet anyway.I made my coffee and had a couple breakfast bars and tried to get Hippie going. She got up long enough to make her tea and as I was packing up my stuff, she zipped up her tent and went back to sleep. I hope I never act that old and worn out.I started hiking at 7:20am and got soaked from the overgrown trail that was wet from the rain last night.I got up to the top of Gulf Hagas Mountain at 7:50am.I got to Carl A. Newhall Lean-to and took a break. Coughdrop and John Galt hiked to here last night because there wasn't any suitable place to hang a hammock at Sidney Tappan Tentsite. They were up, but not ready to hike yet, so I just sat and ate a snack.They were ready to hike out at 9:20am. John Galt did a 19 mile day yesterday, so he has an excuse for moving slow this morning. He hasn't hiked alot since last year, so that's a big day for him. I don't know about the other two. They shouldn't be affected by that kind of mileage.We have a short day planned because we want to go into Gulf Hagas and hike the loop trail to see the gorge.We hiked along side a stream for several miles this morning. When we got to Gulf Hagas Trail, we sat down by the stream crossing and ate lunch.We hiked into Gulf Hagas at 11:55am. We took the Rim Trail first and got to see waterfall after waterfall. Some of the areas had steep dropoffs into the gorge. It is a 5.2 mile side trail that is well worth walking. I've wanted to do it everytime I came through this area, so this time I made sure to allow time to do it.I took my second fall of this thru hike today in Gulf Hagas. I was walking down a ledge to look at the gorge and before I knew what happened, I was laying on my backpack. That's the second time I landed totally on my backpack. I'm glad I always have it on my back when I'm hiking. John Galt and Coughdrop had thought about hiding their packs, since we come out of the loop trail at the same place we go into it. When I said that I always carry my pack, they decided to carry theirs. If I would have been slackpacking, I think I would have hurt myself pretty good on the rocks I fell on.We went down to an area called The Jaws and spent about a half an hour watching the day go by. We walked a little further and took another half hour break at Buttermilk Falls. Hiking like this really makes me feel lazy. We hiked on to Billings Falls and took another break. It rained lightly for about 30 minutes. We ended up spending 4 hours and 15 minutes in Gulf Hagas. It was a great afternoon and we got to see some beautiful waterfalls and a deep gorge.We hiked on down to the West Branch of the Pleasant River and had to ford it. It's always nice to get your shoes wet at the end of a day. Makes them fun to put on in the morning.Hippie was waiting on the other side of the river and talking to Skyline and Sundance. I had run into them in Southern Maine.It was 4:45 when I forded the river and Hippie said that after I left her at camp this morning, she went back to sleep for 5 hours. I'm glad I got moving because I had a great day.Someone stuck up a "no camping" sign at a flat spot that I've always stayed at. I have no idea why they would do that. It was a nice spot. We all found a flat spot in the woods and set up our tents and hammocks away from that spot. We went back there to cook though because it was more open and less mosquitos. I had another Mountain House meal...I may have to start buying those for when I cook dinners. They are pretty good.I got into my tent early tonight. Hopefully I can get everyone moving in the morning early because we are going to Cloud Pond Lean-to. There is a very nice tent site right on the point and we can spend half a day there relaxing and swimming.They've all agreed to be hiking by 7am in the morning...we'll see how they do.Another great day on the A.T.