Date: 2005-07-11
From: Upper Goose Pond Cabin

To: Kay Wood lean-to
Miles today: 17.6

Upper Goose Pond Cabin to Kay Wood lean-to It sure is something to wake up to a cool beautiful morning in the woods, trot over to the shelter (from the tent platform) and be greeted by hot coffee and pancakes fresh off the griddle.  Goose Pond Cabin is one of several (but not many) shelters on the AT that has a caretaker and requests a fee for stay.  What makes this particular "shelter" special other than its spectacular location and that is actually a full-fledged cabin, is that the caretaker makes a pancake breakfast for hikers in the morning.  Grampy (GA -> ME 2001) is the caretaker this week and boy did the spunky old chap flap a mean jack.  Those pancakes and real maple syrup, thanks to Hillbilly a southbound sectioner, kept me going all morning.  The miles came easy today and it is the first day in a week that we both feel like were back in the swing of hiking.  It feels good being out in the woods and the routine feels natural again.  We've also been feeling charged meeting day hikers lately who, upon hearing how far we've come, congratulate and compliment us.  This is a big change from the gloom and doom about our prospects of reaching Katahdin we've frequently encountered down south.  I'm happy to feel motivated and strong again.  Even though we've slowed down some, the milestones and states seem to go by fast; ee only have 622.6 mi. to go!! Today I was so looking forward to a classic trail experience: The Cookie Lady.  A 10th of a mile off the trail, this angel lives on a working blueberry farm and when home offers homemade cookies to hikers to munch on while picking blueberries.  I couldn't wait to gorge on fresh berries and meet the Cookie Lady herself.  Unfortunately when we got to the farm we discovered that the berries were still green and no one was home.  No berries, no cookies and no Cookie Lady.  I was pretty disappointed.  But, there was a glorious breeze blowing and a couple of lawn chairs in the shaded green grass.  So we reclined in the chairs had an afternoon snack and enjoyed the beautiful day and surroundings for about an hour.  Although we plan to camp near a stream at ~13 mi., we felt good and the terrain was easy so we decided to push on 4 more miles to the shelter.  The forest has been rather swampy and muddy lately and there wasn't much in the way of camping before the shelter anyway.  The disappointment at the Cookie Ladies' farm was somewhat redeemed when we found patches of large ripe blueberries on top of Warner Mountain.  Then I encountered a patch of ripe raspberries shortly before the shelter.  So, although I was hoping for buckets of farm fresh berries, I did still get plenty of trail fresh ones! Too, when you're not expecting them, fresh ripe wild berries are an even sweeter treat. . .  Beautiful pink gold light illuminating the forest now.  We're the only ones at the shelter.  Perhaps we'll be alone here tonight? Is so I think it will be the first time we've not shared a shelter.  Not much matter either way since we're tenting to avoid the bugs.  It would be nice to see some other thru hikers though.  Still in this lull.  It is nice in many ways to have the peace and quiet just for the two of us.  But socializing is fun too and we haven't had much of it lately.  We'll see, I'm sure we'll catch up or be caught up with soon enough.  Danger