Date: 2007-09-07
From: East Andover, ME

To: South Arm Road
Miles today: 10.6

Margie and Earle Towne, ownes of the Cabin in Maine, were wonderful hosts and fed us an excellent all you can eat breakfast this morning. I also made several breakfast sandwiches to take with me for lunch. Earle then drove me, JB and Iceman back to the trailhead at East B Hill Road. He stopped along the way at the post office so I could mail off my bounce box. I was also able to call the Gorha. Post office. My missing mail drip box was there in the general delivery bin and they agreed to forward it to Stratton, ME where I hope to be next Wednesday.When we arrived at the trailhead it was already warmer than it had been all day yesterday, and noticably humid. It would be a warm and sweaty day of hiking.It was a moderate climb up gentle terrain to Surplus Pond, a small and shallow pond with a single cabin on the far shore. As with most of the ponds I have seen in ME and north NH it seemed there should have been a moose standing somewhere around it near the shore, but there were no moose to be seen. The next 3 miles up to Wyman Mountain were also over gentle terrain but mostly thru young regenerating clearcut forests with small conifer regen. There was lots of evidence of moose on the trail and I kept wondering if I would bump into one rounding a cornwr in the trail. Near the top of the mtn I passed another group from Harvard Univ. This was the 4th Harvard group I have passed in the last week or 2. They are always fairly largeM 10 - 14 students and counselors. They congratulated me on my accomplishment of making it all the way to Maine, and I congratulated them on their accomplishment of making it to Harvard. It seemed to me that we were each accomplishing something that required perhaps years of planning and hard work, me on my hike and they on being accepted into one of the country's elite Ivy League colleges. I ate lunch at Hall Mt Lean-to with Popeye and LightweightM JB and Iceman. The spring was nearly dry and the few shallow standing pools looked very uninviting so I decided to wait to refill my water until Sawye Brook at the bottom of Hall Mtn. It was a steep and steady downhill to Sawyer Notch but the water in the creek was clear and cold, though very low. Everywhere we go this country looks dry. I am very glad that it is not raining every day but the springs and streams sure look dry. After crossing Sawyer Brook the trail shot straight up the very steep side of Moody Mountain. This trail was badly eroded and very steep. There were regular places where iron bars had been placed in the rock for hand and foot holds to help you scramble up the very steep rock slabs. This climb was only a mile long but it gained 1,400' and took nearly an hour and a half. All of us were drenched when we reached the summit. The temp had now reached 75 and the humidity was high. By the time I reached the top I had nearly finished my water again, making a total of 5 liters of water during the past 7 miles of walking. This was clearly a much warmer and more humid day than any we have had recently.It was a relatively mild descent off Moody Mtn down to South Arm Road at Black Brook Notch. We all decide that we'd had enough climbing for one day and camped just before the road crossing. The hike up Old Blue Mt which starts just across the road looks to be equally steep as Moody Mt and none of was up for tackling it tonight. It will have to wait for tomorrow morning.