Date: 2015-09-17
From: East Flagstaff Road

To: West Carry Pond Lean-To
Miles today: 6.3
Weather: clear sky

At 8 a.m. I settled up with Shane at the Stratton Motel, and he drove me out to the trailhead. That is still a strange feeling to be driven out into the middle of no where and left all alone with nothing but a pack.I did not plan to push too hard today. The Beast was heavy with resupply, I have not carried a full pack for a while, and I did not want to press my luck with my back.The weather was great and the trail was relatively easy. There were some hills (not mountains), but they were gentle ups and downs. I could have slack packed all the way to Monson, but I was glad to be back on the trail with my full pack.I ran into several interesting folks today. First there was a guy I previously met at the hostel in Andover. He repeatedly re-hikes the same section of the AT. In Andover I asked him about trail conditions, and he lied to me. For example, he told me there would be no more rebar. When I saw him today he admitted he lied to me. He came up with a few different reasons he lied, and none of them made sense.Then there was the young south bound hiker I met who was carrying a machete. It protruded out of the top of his pack by about a foot. He claimed it weighs about 2 pounds, and he plans to use it to kill a "ManBearPig." I told him he will probably want to lose the machete and the 2 pounds of dead weight before he hits the White Mountains. I was a little worried about that boy! (Later, in a shelter journal, I read one of his entries where he noted that he had recently learned a valuable lesson - do not sleep on a logging road - in the morning the earth will violently shake and you will literally have to run for your life to keep your ass from being run over. Good to know! I have no idea why natural selection has not already taken the boy out.)Last but not least I met Sparky, a nice electrical engineer about my age who lost his wife to cancer a few years ago and immediately thru hiked the AT, finishing despite a spiral fracture in his arm. He was now helping his girlfriend complete her AT thru hike. I also enjoyed watching 4 red squirrels. They apparently all live in the same hallowed out nest in a tree. First one came out and ran around the tree. Then another emerged. A third squirrel poked its head out of the hole to see what was going on as the first one tried to get back in. Soon there was some sort of squirrel tag game going on with 2 or 3 squirrels running laps around the tree while another squirrel watched from the hole and waited its turn to run around the tree. I just stood very still near the base of the tree and watched the squirrels play. I reached the shelter about 4 p.m. and set up my tent nearby. There was a beautiful pond near the shelter, so I grabbed my stove and a bag dinner, and cooked and ate my dinner on a nice flat rock near the water. I thoroughly enjoyed the view but failed to see a moose.Three young kids, a southbounder and 2 northbounders, stayed in the shelter and were up fairly late making noise. I was glad I was snug in my tent and went to bed early. At one point I thought I heard loons on the pond.The AT is calling. I hope the rest of the trail through Maine is easy like today.