Date: 2013-08-24
From: Bald Mountain Brook Lean to

To: Horseshoe canyon Lean to
Miles today: 13.0
Weather: few clouds

Start Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to, mile 2049.4Stop Horseshoe Canyon Lean-to, mile 2062.4Sleep Lean-toCell noneHiked 13.0 miles Northbound 123.5 miles remaining 110.1 miles hiked 2013 ATOld Goat's notes:We started 7:00am this morning with a climb up Moxie Bald Mountain 1329ft to 2329ft in the 2 miles. It was a gradual bare rock walk at first for about a mile then the serious climbing began. The views were outstanding we could see a full 360 degrees, it was a little hazy but it was still a great view. I think we saw Katahdin from there, it barely showed above the other mountains. Then we hiked down the other side for another 2 miles, the steep parts were about the same but the rest was more difficult. We stopped at Moxie Bald Mountain Lean-to for a short rest and them pressed on. Most of the trail today was pretty good. It was flat and smooth a lot but it also had some mud spots we had to negotiate from time to time. We forded one small stream that other hikers rock hopped. Check 6 has balance issues and can not make long stride hops. It was enjoyable to get our feet wet and it didn't take very long to take off the shoes, cross the stream, dry off our feet, and put the shoes back on. We then hiked another 4 miles of flat terrain and smooth trail before we reached the Piscataquis River. The guide book says "River normally knee deep. During heavy rain periods, fording can be dangerous". The water was very low it didn't reach our knees, we took off our shoes again and forded this river. The trail after the ford kicked our butts, the sign at the ford said 3.7 miles and the profile map looked like it was a flat hike. It was anything but flat it kept going up and down small amounts along the side of the mountain. The only nice part about it was it followed the river we had just crossed and the valley was very pretty. Check 6's notes;I think of so many things to write about as we're hiking during the day...but I can't remember them now because I didn't (and won't) stop to jot them down. Frustrating! A lot of today's hiking was wonderful. This is a beautiful part of the Maine AT. We had a spectacular 360 view at the top of Moxie Bald Mountain. There were a lot of easy hiking miles, but the last 3 miles were grueling. Like walking up and down a roller coaster, but with 30-35 pounds on my back and lots of rocks and roots in the way. Whew! Happy to be "home" for the night! We're sleeping in the lean-to tonight because the tent sites are all on a slope. We've slept on a slope before (during our 2009 hike before we stopped); it's not fun at all. We prefer sleeping in our tent...gives us a sense of privacy and it's warmer than being exposed to the air. Our body heat warms the air inside the tent somewhat (not a lot). It's supposed to be in the mid-30's here tonight we've heard. Brrr. Our sleeping bags are nice and warm. We heard that last night a bunch of thru-hikers stayed at this lean-to and that it was like a frat party. At this point thru-hikers will finish in a week or so, so they are very excited. We expect to finish in about 12 days or so, but that's because we're much slower than they are and we plan to take a zero (no hiking) day in Monson before we go into "the 100 mile wilderness.". I hope none of the thru-hikers stay here tonight so we can get some sleep. We'll see. We played leap-frog with 2 very nice ladies today. We hike at similar speeds, so we kept passing each other when we or they stopped for something. For example, fording a river. Before we started this year's hike one thing I was anxious about was fording rivers or streams. I expected them to be all slippery rocks. We forded 2 rivers today and neither was too bad. As long as I plant my 4 "feet" carefully (my own 2 feet and my hiking poles), it's safe. The first ford did have slippery rocks, but I was fine. The rocks in the 2nd river were not slippery. In fact, I liked fording the streams...it was refreshing when I was hot from hiking. We'll see how I feel on deeper rivers. All in all, it was a very good day. Sent from my iPhone