Date: 2013-06-21
From: Shaw's - Monson, ME

To: Shaw's - Monson, ME
Miles today: 10.8

DAY 12Slack packing! MILES ON AT FOR DAY- 10.8MILES TOTAL FOR DAY- 10.8Third day of AYCE breakfast. And again it was just as good. NOW I'm getting spoiled haha. Again it was a smaller breakfast with just me, my Dad, Hugh, Doodles, and UPS but then in came 3 boys in the middle of breakfast. Their group name was Mike and The Boys. Their individual names were Smash, Yea-Yea, and Fryer. They were all recent graduates of Boston College. Seemed less rowdy than the Stoners with Boners, but still kind of rowdy. They were pretty typical college bros. Nice though! They mentioned that there was a whole crew of more boys coming in soon right after them. Sounds like it would be a full house tonight!After breakfast my Dad and I got to rearranging things because he was going to be leaving so I needed to decide last minute any gear I was keeping, getting rid of, etc. As we were about to go upstairs to do so Chef and Patrick came in. I was in shock! Chef from up on Katahdin had made it! And he was with Patrick (the boy from White House landing with his father)! Patrick was now apparently Pineapple. His father decided not to continue on to finish the wilderness. Not his thing. I guess those boys kind of just took their time through the wilderness. As I was catching up with Chef 2 more boys came in. One was Up and the other was Smooth. We introduced Up and UPS which I find hilarious that there is almost a repeat trail name! Go figure. I decided to break off and go upstairs to figure out my gear because I had to leave soon for my second day of slack packing. I would catch up with them all later. We rearranged my pack, I only brought my food and water for the day again, and then we were off to the last spot I left off. I grabbed a few dryer sheets because I figured it stick them on my pack straps and see if they helped with the bugs. Why not try? We ended up getting there around 10am. This would be my first day hiking by myself because my Dad had to go to margaritaville tomorrow (Jimmy Buffett). It was weird to say goodbye. He told me he had set up the shuttle and my last night for stay. He's the best I definitely wouldn't have been able to slack pack so much in the beginning if it weren't for him. We said our goodbyes and then I was off to do a 10.8 mile day and conquer the mountain Moxie Bald!I got that same feeling of a bit of anxiety as I had felt when we were driving up to Katahdin. Just a bit of excitement and nervousness that comes with something new. I was on my own for this hike. Granted I would be picked up later and go back to Shaws for my last night there but still! I was on my own! After about a mile in I decided to throw my headphones on. My boyfriend had put music on my iPod shuffle and I hadn't even used it yet and this was the perfect opportunity. I hiked for a while with one in and one out and it was kind of nice listening to music while I hiked. It made me pick up the pace a bit and made me less nervous. Not too far in, I came across another hiker... Kathy. She was a NoBo section hiker. Super nice woman. We chatted for a bit and then I was off again. I got so distracted by my music and hiking that at one point I looked up and bam there was a deer 20 feet in front of me on the trail staring straight at me. We both stopped dead in our tracks and just stared at each other for about 10 seconds. As I slowly reached to my hip belt to grab my phone to take a picture, of course it bolted. Oh well. Onward! The hike up Moxie Bald was much less strenuous than I had expected and the weather was perfect. Not too hot and clear. When I got to the top it was so barren. Rocky and dead trees. Makes sense why the second half of the mountains name is "bald". The views were beautiful though! It was also the summer solstice, which as part of AT tradition, you are supposed to hike naked for part of the day on the summer solstice. I said I definitely wouldn't do it.... but then I started to think about it. I was on top of a mountain on a beautiful day, by myself, and I had seen one other person all day.... so I decided to participate Just for a minute... But it felt so liberating! Good thing I did it when I did because 15 minutes later a group of 10-15 teenage girls with a guide hiked up to the peak. I decided to hang out at the top for about an hour and snack, make phone calls, soak up the sun and what not. I was ahead of schedule and I wasn't getting picked up until 5pm so I needed to kill sometime anyways. When I decided to get up to begin my descent, I couldn't figure out where the trail continued south. Took me about 10 minutes but I got it. Can't get lost on my first day on my own! On the way down Moxie Bald I met 2 more section hikers. They were 2 older guys and one of them was named "Shady" from Virginia. They were finishing their last section NoBo. Shady told me to remember his name because when I hit Virginia he has his card left in a barn the trail passes through and he will do shuttles for free and other trail magic/trail angel doings. Good thing to keep in mind I continued on and pumped up the tunes. "Take a Walk" by Passion Pit came on and I just jammed out. Started singing out loud and what not and picked up the pace. It was so sunny and I was just on such a high from such a nice hiking day. My Achilles and knees were feeling good too which gave me a lot more confidence. Again because I was in a zone with my music I got distracted... and walked the wrong way around a pond when I was supposed to walk through a swampy part of it. In my attempts to try to hit every white blaze I backtracked and went the correct way. Hopefully I don't do that too often but I'm sure this won't be the last time it happens.As I had expected, I arrived at the road much earlier than I thought. My pickup was at 5pm and it was 3:45pm anddd my phone had 7%. Sweet. I just chilled by the stream I just crossed and listened to my tunes. Eventually I made my way up the road to the trail head I thought Doodles and UPS would pick me up at. They generously offered to pick me up so wouldn't need to pay for a shuttle. While waiting a NoBo came through. The 6th I had seen. Nice kid but forgot his trail name haha. Can't keep track of them all! I had seen another one the day before buying a gallon of chocolate milk at the convenient store. That was the 5th.It was now getting close to 5:30pm and I started to get nervous. Where were they? My phone was dying, I had no service, and I was on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. Awesomeeeee. Just 5 minutes later they showed up. Phew! Doodles apologized and informed me that UPS drives like a grandpa down the dirt roads. All forgiven. Apparently it took them almost an hour and half to get me though so I told them dinner on me! It was "fish fry Friday" at Lakeshore so that's where we went! It was bomb. As I had expected everyone was in the bar there. I didn't get to meet all the others that I had come into town but I talked to Chef for a while. After dinner we got some Ben & Jerry's (Chubby Hubby) and headed back. Even though I had slack packed I was wiped so I had half my pint of ice cream and hit the hay. Tomorrow would be an easy day, my first "Nero" (near zero day- usually 5 miles or less).