Date: 2009-07-24
From: Rainbow Lake Camp (private)

To: Jo Mary Road (Jo Mary Wilderness)
Miles today: 10.0

Again we took Katadhin Air from the Golden Road area into Rainbow Lake. A seaplane is an incredible mode of transport! The plane carries 5 people or fewer people and supplies. We lucked out again in that Jim had to drop off supplies at the private camp, so they allowed him to drop us off along with the Budweiser! We strapped ourselves in, put on headsets so that we could talk to each other, and he cranked up the Beach Boys on his I Pod...it just doesn't get any better!We divided today's mileage into 2 hikes, the second one tacked on 2.6 miles so that tomorrow would be shorter.Access:North: Rainbow Lake Camp via seaplane, then .5 mi to the AT.South: Pollywog Stream in the Jo Mary Wilderness Area. This was a very long car plant. We drove south from Millinocket yesterday on Rt 11 to the sign for Jo Mary Campground. Once at the front gate (this entire area is owned by a lumber company and they charge $10/pp to enter...not a bad deal considering that there are miles and miles of fairly good dirt roads that we share with the lumber trucks), we paid our money, asked some access questions and rode 5.9 miles to a fork in the road. We took the right fork. At 8 more mi we came to Henderson Checkpoint and the people at Jo Mary Checkpoint saw us on their video camera via satellite and opened the gate...ah technology! But there is a downside...apparently this satellite business has only been operational for a month. Prior to that there was a real live person opening the gate. Sadly, he is now unemployed. We then went 5.5 mi to a fork in the road and went right for .9 to another fork in the road. We went left for 5.5 mi to Pollywog Stream Bridge. There is parking for about 6 cars here. The Hike:THE RAIN IN MAINE WAS A PAIN!! It rained from the moment we got off the plane. Today we traveled south along Rainbow Lake through many a mud bog. A thru hiker reported seeing a moose and calf, but we never saw them. The lake turned into what the hiking book called a deadwater area and we then saw many trees which had recently been taken down by a beaver. We came to Rainbow Stream Lean To, sitting on raging Rainbow Stream. To earn our right to eat lunch there, we had to, very carefully, walk across the stream on 3 parallel, slick logs. Either we are getting good at this, or we were very hungry. At any rate we survived crossing with a measured side step and without breathing!After lunch we met a father and son that we had met yesterday. They were wet, chilled, hungry, but determined to master the 100 Mile Wilderness, at least for 2 or 3 nights. We offered them a bailout either tomorrow or 3 days from now and gave them some info on where to meet if they wanted out.The balance of hike #1 traced the Rainbow Stream down through many whitewater rapids and falls. We were sorry that it was raining as we would have taken dozens of photos. We ended this hike at Pollywog Bridge but decided that we had enough time to do a piece (2.6 mi) of the next day's hike. Our thought here was the next day we would only be doing 6 mi and be able to get a good 1/2 day's rest in. Hike #2--This hike went from Pollywog Stream to Crescent Pond via a little bit of uphill. Crescent Pond, by the way, is very pretty. We came upon 4 canoes that were up on a beach and part of a camp that was in the area. After Crescent Pond there was another little uphill and out to Jo Mary Rd, exactly 1.2 mi south of Pollywog Stream Bridge. We then walked the road north back to our car. We were glad that we did the extra mileage, but another lesson learned: never trust the Maine weather reports! Today was supposed to be a fair weather day so we went for the extra mileage. Oh well...