Date: 2009-10-04
From: Moxie Bald Lean-To

To: Monson, ME (ShawÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs)
Miles today: 14.6
Weather: broken clouds

We awoke to find the ground completely saturated and our sleeping bags wet from the heavy rains throughout the night. It may have been the most powerful rainful of the entire trail. As Jungli and I were having some breakfast, Chef came running over and excited as ever.  Guys! There is a moose swimming with its head underneath the water in the pond!  So, naturally, we ran on over to the pond and observed this creature swimming through the lake. The lake had this glassy calm to it and you could see the ripples made from the animal gliding through the water. The entire view was breathtaking. There was a slight mist looming over the pond and all along the banks of the pond were the Maine fall colours again. So, anyway, we continued observing this  moose  that was swimming, but it didn t pop its head above water for quite a long time. Then, it approached the shore and, if it were a moose, then it would have to come out of the water. In the end, it turned out to be a beaver and Chef was left slightly embarrased. Now, it was onwards to Monson! But, first we had to tread our way through the trail, which had been turned into a fast flowing river in most areas. Our feet were completely soaked, especially since we had to do some mini-fords traversing some raised areas that provided some strong run-off. For a while there, I tried to rock jump through the trail (literally a minimum of four inches of water), but then eventually gave up and just prepared myself for the fact that I would be wet anyway. Then, we came across our first REAL river ford, the West Branch Piscataquis River. It was swollen with all the rain we had been having. The rain continued to fall on us during our crossing. The current was very strong and the water level raised up to my mid- to upper-thigh at one point. The bottom was somewhat rocky and I twisted and turned (I left my shoes on during the crossing) as I made my way across to the large island that separated the flowing river. The water was FREEZING and I was shouting most of the way across! Jungli went a different route, a much shallower, but faster river, and made it to a separate island, from where she managed to catch my initial crossing. The other half of the ford wasn t neither as deep nor as strong, but still I had to be careful as I crossed. Upon reaching the other side, we saw that Chef left us a note that encompassed the same thoughts that we had,  So, this is what a river ford is like? See you in Monson!  We were told later on that, for Southbounders, this was the river ford that swept a few hikers away, some of whom actually lost their packs in the raging current. Yes, they LOST their packs due to the force of the river. Gone, forever. Then, we reached our second ford, the East Branch of the Piscataquis River. I, again, decided to leave my shoes on ¢ they were already completely drenched ¢ and forded the river carefully, with the water coming up to my knees, but with a strong current. We plodded along, stopped at the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-To for a snack and to get some water and then continued pushing on. As we continued on the trail, which happened to be at the edge of the cliff, the river down below was raging its way down the route. Everyone that signed the trail register in the shelter said that they wish that there was a kayak of some kind close by ¢ but, even then, the water was so strong and there were some serious drops that would have made an attempt very dangerous. It was getting a bit on the late side and we wanted to make it in town to Monson, so we decided to take the blue-blaze route and then have Shaw s hostel come and pick us up. We were determined to have a nice break in Monson and then return to the same trailhead and do the actual 2+ miles to the Monson highway crossing. A woman from Shaw s did come and we arrived in town completely wet, stinking beyond belief, hungry, and in need of a bed and a shower. We could not believe that we had just walked over 2,060 miles and that this would be our last town stop before Katahdin. It was just incredible...We were hungry, so after showering up, we headed into Monson, which was truly just a few houses and a few stores and with one open restaurant. There, we met up with the Vortex group and heard all about the crazy stories from the BC s and Beechucker about their hitchhiking experience. As they explained, upon reaching the road in Caratunk, the exact same woman who we helped move picked them up, wondering  what the hell are you kids doing?  They had two hitches each, but the BC s had waited around nearly the entire day for the second hitch, which finally brought them into Monson. After downing a few celebratory beers, we headed upstairs to the hotel part of the restaurant, where we found Odin, Spice Rack, and Bottom Bunk. Chef had proposed doing a centurion, or 100 shots of beer to represent the 100 miles in the upcoming and infamous 100-mile wilderess. I had a beer or two, but didn t feel the need to go nuts, after the long and exhaustig day. That being said, it was just wonderful to be together as a group again. These guys are my family out here and I love each of one of them.Tomorrow will be a relaxing day with a special resupply. I had forgotten that the package in Caratunk was not the last maildrop, but the second of the last maildrop as one was sent here to Shaws. I can t believe that we are so close to Katahdin...ohh man.