Date: 2007-09-22
From: Shirley Blanchard Rd

To: Moxie Bald Lean-To
Miles today: 11.6
Weather: overcast clouds

Saturday, September 22, 2007Shirley Blanchard Rd to Moxie Bald Lean-To, 11.6 miles Good morning Buddy! Good food, just like he used to cook at Shaw¢s. I remember him and Keith Sr and Keith Jr preparing the ¢fers¢, insulting each other back and forth while they were cooking.Buddy gives us directions how to come out on Sunday at Townline Rd. Keep bearing left on the logging roads, til you come to the last Y. There the main road bears to the right. Stay on the lesser-traveled road that¢s straight ahead. That¢ll take you out to Rte 16, farther east (closer to Monson) than if you go to the right.Buddy warns us it¢s bear hunting season. Don¢t touch any buckets that are stoked with donuts. You¢ll get the scent on yourself and the bears will come after you. If you see dogs chasing a bear, let them do it. Don¢t let the dogs see you. They¢ll think you¢re the hunters and will come over to you. If you see a bear, put a little tree, not a big one, between you and it.Start our 2-day backpack a little after 9. Overcast. High 60¢s, maybe 70.A quick descent and we¢re at what was an over-the-knee ford of the East Piscataquis River when I forded it with Purple Rose and Zig Zag Sept 13, 2006. Today you can walk across entirely on dry rocks. If you were to step into the water, it would be ankle-deep. 10:20 we pass a nice tentsite next to the stream to our right.Hello again to NOBO¢s Pippy, Pittsburgh and Tunabag.Memere and Gray Feathers stop for lunch. My ankle will seize up if I stop so I keep walking, slowly so I won¢t get too far ahead.2 falling leaves land in my hair. Time to start playing the Leaf-Catching Game. I¢ll tell Gray Feathers and Memere about that game. If they want to, we can play a mini-game, just the 3 of us competing with each other.12:45 as I¢m passing through a stand of willowy young birch saplings, framed from behind by brilliant sugar maples in orange and red, the sun peeks through. I decide to wait at the second ford (West Branch of Piscataquis) for Memere and Gray Feathers to catch up. They¢re close behind me.At the ford, I witness the 2 hiking highlights of this entire trip!At a deepish channel of swift water, full-packing Memere positions herself on one bank and springs high into the air, first soaring, then landing sure-footedly on the other side on one foot! Memere, I had no idea you were going to attempt that Olympic jump or I would have tried to catch the moment on film. Will you do it again for the camera? No way, says Memere. I just didn't want to get my boots wet, she adds. Following Memere, Gray Feathers sets up for the same jump. This time I¢ve got the camera ready and get a shot. I¢m hiking with 2 acrobats.I tell them about the Leaf-Catching Game. To win at that game, acrobatic skill gives you a big advantage. Gray Feathers and Memere will be leaf-catching naturals.Gray Feathers and Memere take another break and I continue hiking, slowly. I¢m tired today. Wearing the backpack is draining me. Just enjoy the slow pace, I tell myself, and lose yourself in the reverie of astonishing fall colors.Hello again to Pearls and Starvin Marvin. At the summit of Moxie Bald they picked up a signal with their PDA and were able to listen to the weather forecast. Until midnight tonight 60% chance of rain. Then clearing for the next several days. They tell us there¢s a group of about a dozen fishermen who canoed over to the shelter we¢ll stay at tonight and are camping near the shore of Bald Mountain Pond a little north of the shelter. They¢ve been doing this for a full weekend once a year, every year. They¢ve got chainsaws. Maybe they also do trail maintenance?We were hoping our night on Bald Pond would be quiet, and we¢d have it almost to ourselves. We¢ll see what tonight brings.Now we¢re on very level rootless needle-lain groomed trail. This is Maine?At 2:15, after the jeep road, the trail becomes more rooty and rocky. Maine.2:30 a noisy small plane, maybe a seaplane, flies overhead.I catch a leaf. So does Gray Feathers.We reach the shelter at 5PM. There¢s a couple here from Lynn MA, hiking from Troutdale Rd to Monson. 5 of us occupy the shelter. A thruhiker arrives. We make space for him, but he goes off closer to the trail and sets up his hammock.Shelter register:8-2-2007 Warren Doyle on his 15th hike of the AT9-18-2007 afternoon   8:05AM. poor Israeli sectionhiker (whose only sin was being too tired to find a campsite in the dark the previous night) is almost trampled to death by a HUGE male moose who is strolling on the trail. Thankfully after several minutes of examining the hammock and its now-struggling-to-get-out-of-the-sleeping-bag-occupant, the moose does a u-turn, hence avoiding making the no longer sleeping hiker into flat goo on the bottom of the trail. Roni.9-20-2007 I stepped/fell into that mudhole atop Moxie. My leg was mid calf deep in the mud. I was by myself and it was so scary¢¦I thought I was doomed to a fate like the Moose in the Notch. Triple Deuce would probably have come along and slit my throat to put me out of my misery and then Stoneage would have knocked out all my teeth to make a necklace. Then Old Yeller would have donned some nipple tassels while performing a sexy dance to exorcize the spirit from my body¢¦but thankfully I was able to extract my foot. eulah. Curt, a member of the fisherman group introduces himself. They¢ve been catching and eating trout. Curt offers us company, chairs and food. Very nice.I stretch out on my pad in the shelter. It¢s a warm night. Stench of mouse piss, mouse crap and wood smoke coats the insides of my nostrils. Gotta sleep outside. I can¢t stand this smell.I lay down first on a tentsite to one side of the shelter. Smell of leaves and needles and wood smoke. Better. Later I move to the edge of the pond, the spot crowded with beached canoes. Still smelling wood smoke. Air is soft, no bite. Sky is clear. Orion straight ahead. Off to my left, a Venus so big and bright it casts a yellowish glow on the surface of the water, almost as bright as the moon would cast if it were out at this hour (4AM). Loons call.Today¢s Leaf-Catching scores: Me 1, Gray Feathers 1, Memere 0.