Date: 2015-10-11
From: Chairback Gap Lean To

To: Katahdin Iron Works
Miles today: 6.4

I was up early and made breakfast & coffee and was soon on the trail over Chairback Mountain. It had rained the night before and was raining on and off along the way. The descent down from the shelter was very slick and slow going.I couldn't find the spring at the bottom of the steep and winding trail from the shelter and settled for river water. Finding the trail was a problem as well as it wasn't well marked so I wasted time until I backtracked and found it at a blind curve. It took me far longer to go than I had ever anticipated so I kept trying to call my brother and let him know that I was going to be late. My phone, ever since I had gotten into Maine had been showing me phantom bars. It showed me that I had plenty of AT&T service by almost full bars, but every time I tried to make a call it would tell me "Emergency Calls Only" which only added to my frustration. I slipped and fell numerous time on the way down and I missed the ford where I was supposed to cross and continued an extra 1.7 miles to the Gulf Hagas trail. By the time I made it to the parking lot, the wrong one by the way, I was 3 hours late. I had been asking every hiker I met but no one else had service. I asked some hikers for a ride to the other parking lot to see if my brother was there, he threw me his keys and told me he was a former thru-hiker and said to take his car and bring it back when I was done. His friends were blown away as was I. I grabbed the car from the parking lot where he told me it would be and following the instructions drove to the other parking lot and then to the office at the Katahdin Iron works where it showed that my brother had been through. I went back and checked both places again and then parked the car and caught a ride back to the office. I called Clay and found that he had left after waiting 2 hours and couldn't return that night as he was out of town going to a concert as part of his anniversary gift to Mandy. He said that he would pick me up first thing in the Morning though. I asked the attendant if I could camp for the night and was given permission. I went across the field and went to the large rock kiln tower and after finding a spot that wasn't being dripped on put out my trash bag ground sheet, sleeping bag and hung up my pack. During the time I was setting up I saw a very fat rodent pop out of a hole in the wall and trundle away after giving me a once over. It came and went with loads of food so I made sure that my food was up and out of the way. I had seen that the grass had just been mowed so I grabbed several armfuls of grass clippings and then placed a matt of it and put my sleeping system on top to give me a softer bed than the hard ground. It was several inches thick and very comfortable. I walked around, had a safety meeting and ate lunch which included apples from the nearby trees and watched some episodes of the Legend of Korra. It was soon 6 and I had been asked to come up to the office to share dinner with the attendant and her husband. I was able to charge my gear, warm up and drink coffee while I waited. She served a big home cooked dinner and homemade pie for desert. She and her husband were such nice people who, hearing about what happened to me, helped me out a lot. After dinner I went back to the kiln and watched a few more episodes before going to sleep.