Date: 2005-09-14
From: Little Wilson Falls

To: Stream, 90 miles (+) to go
Miles today: 17.5

Up and gone by 7:15 this morning. What I failed to mention yesterday was the amount of wildlife I saw. I came upon a Loon as it was feeding along the shallow waters of a pond. I sat and watched it for quite a while. Later two King Fishers were alerted by my presence and flew off in front of me. They landed at a nearby tree and were still close enough to enjoy. I observed a number of Grouse (three) walking along the trail. They were close enough to hit with a stick.    Just Visiting told me that over the night she got up to relieve herself and discovered a mouse in her house. She was able to chase it out and noticed that it chewed a hole through the side of her tent. Later that morning she also found that the mouse chewed a hole in her food bag. The little critter did a lot of damage in such a short time. I have slept with my food bag more then once, I never would have thought that a mouse would be so bold. Back to the hanging bear bag for me.   I crossed the Big Wilson Stream ford shortly after leaving. I noticed that a number of these fords had an alternate route in case of high water. Here it was a bridge across the water, 1.5 miles down stream. I did not have to use any alternate routes however, it made me come up with a plan for crossing deeper streams. I started unsnapping my back pack chest strap and waist belt, just in case the water swept me away and I had to ditch it. I also kept an empty Nalgene bottle attached to my bear rope and pack and rigged it so if the pack sank to the bottom, the bottle would float to the top so I could recover it. Luckily I never had to do such a drastic thing.    Crossing the river I also used some modified techniques I learned as a white water rafting guide back in Colorado. I walked through the eddies where the water was calmer. Through the quicker stuff I used my trekking poles, leaning forward and up stream, to stabilize myself as I walked sideways. Lastly I always new what was down stream in case I went in and had to swim to shore. I knew that if I did go for a swim I would use the white water rescue swim, feet pointing down stream and deflecting rocks as I went over them, working my way to calmer water. Two deadly things that could hurt (kill) people in water, getting caught in a tree (called strainers) and getting your foot caught in between something submerged (foot entrapment). The thing to remember is that the water never gets tired.   The next ford was at the "Long Pond Stream". The unique thing about this crossing was not the crossing itself. It was the fact that it marked the area where we crossed the 100 mile "to go" mark. I continued on and made my way to the fire tower on the summit of Barren Mountain (2326 feet). The fire tower no longer existed however, I ran in to a former thru hiker again, Lion King, that I met a few days before. He was doing sections, working his way toward Mount Katahdin. He asked me if I ran in to a hiker called Squid Jerky, a NOBO, then could I pass on a message for him. The one time I observed that the hiker net of passing info actually worked going forward (I met Squid Jerky shortly thereafter). Lion King also told me he interviewed a number of "movie Stars" for a Canadian television program he worked for, one was Marisa Tormet.   I also ran in to two SOBO hikers, Too Much and Erik the Viking. Too Much got his name because he carried too much stuff. A true SOBO, he planned on mailing a lot of things home at the Post Office in Monson. Erik did not have the moniker of "The Viking", I named him that after we talked for a while (I do not know if he used it or not). He flipped up from Harpers Ferry, he was walking northward till that point. If ever a man looked like a Viking, it was him (dark thick hair and a dark thick beard). He told me his name was Erik and I asked him if it was spelled with a "k". Remembering a conversation years before with a friend, Gino, who has a son named Erik. Gino was always making sure that who ever he talked to about his son's name, that you understood that it was spelled with a "k", like the Vikings. So I passed it on, Erik with a "k", like the Vikings.   My hike plan was to make it to the Chair back Gap Lean-to. I passed three thus far and soon discovered there was a flaw in the "Hiker Handbook". The mileage was off by two if not three miles between Cloud Pond and Chair Back Gap Lean-to's. I went as far as I physically could go and luckily found a nice camp site along the trail. Water was back about 100 yards south and I was in my bag just after dark. I was 1.7 miles from the next Lean-to but that did not matter, handbook miles stated I went just over 17 miles, and that was enough (I was beat).