Date: 2005-07-14
From: Caratunk, ME

To: Pierce Pond Lean-to
Miles today: 4.0
Weather: light rain

Thursday, July 14 Day 13. Caratunk - Pierce Pond Lean-to (4 mi.) We had a very rushed morning. Up at 8, then we had to get a big breakfast, shop for food at the ferry man Steve's re-supply store, and then go get the ferry across the Kennebec River before 11 to keep hiking a planned 14 miles. Well we got out breakfast, but when we got to Steve's, it was closed! It turns out that while the ferry is running from 9-11 (which we have to catch to keep hiking) the store is closed, quite a dillema. Luckily there was someone out front who opened it up for us. Turns out he was a sobo thru-hiker, "Gobo," who was part of a red-headed hiking trio who called themselves the "red army." Unfortunately for him (but fortunately for us) he got injured and had to drop out. Normally we would've either gotten stuck on that side of the river with food or on the other side of the river without food. If Gobo wasn't there, like the day before, then we would've been forced to take another zero day. As we got to the ferry (which is just a canoe) next to the highway, who popped out of the woods but Jay-Bird and Captain Sobo. Jay-Bird was taking the ferry across but Captain Sobo was heading to Caratunk. As we made it just in time to cross the river, our (or I should say my) troubles weren't over yet. As Greg and I were unloading from the canoe, I realized that I had left my hiking poles on the other side. I realized a bit too late though as Steve was half way across the river already. Luckily he heard me screaming across to him and went out of his way to paddle back across the river and bring me my poles (When I thanked him over and over again he said that the credit should go to his girlfriend who had just gotten back from travelling and had put him in a good mood). After all this it was 11:30 and morale hit a low. For no reason in particular neither of us felt the motivation to hike, whether it was missing the Northern Outdoors Resort or just being tired, we did not have a good pace going. So after and hour of hiking like this, we decided to cut the day short and go to the closest lean-to and take it easy. About a quarter of a mile from the lean-to there was a sign laying on the ground next to a tree. It said, "Aimey's lemonade stand." We didn't pay much notice to it at the time until we kept walking down the trail and intersected a big side trail that went across a river. We decided that this might be related to the lemonade stand, so we dropped our packs, pulled out our wallets and walked down the path. As we approached the river and started crossing a bridge, we saw a big house on top of a hill on the other side. When we got to the building, it looked very run-down and kind of spooky. There was a sign hanging on the porch that said that this place was called "Harrisson's Camp." As we started walking around the building, a little girl of about 8 wearing a blue swimsuit came out and greeted us. She told us that there was a lemonade stand, and we told her we'd heard about it and asked where it was. We followed her around the house to a porch looking over the river. She told us to sit and watch the hummingbirds. So we did. There were at least 10 of these hummingbirds and they were very entertaining. Eventually, the lemonade came out, carried by the girl's older sister. We sat and drank our lemonade, and the girls' 10 or 11 yr. old brother came out and entertained us by showing off, telling us all about the quadruple back flips he could do, and the quadruple black diamond slopes he's skied down. We still had not seen any parents, just the girl, two older sisters and the brother. Once we were done with our lemonades and were listening to the boy tell us how a snowboarder he taunted got his revenge on him - quadruple back flip resulting in a knee injury - it started to pour outside. So we quickly paid our $1 each, and as we were running back to our packs, we heard (and saw for a second)the mom saying bye to us. So I guess it was a harmless camp/lemonade stand in the middle of the woods...or was it? The rain didn't last long, just long enough to get us soaked and then stopped as we got to the lean-to.