Date: 2010-09-06
From: Monson

To: Little Wilson Stream Camp
Miles today: 10.1

06 September Monday ¢ 10.1 Miles to Little Wilson Stream CampI could hear Rock¢n¢Roll stirring around in his tent before he woke everyone up. He screeched as loud as he could with the most annoying noise possible. The ¢Call of the Wild!¢ echoed through the trees and it was time for Shaw¢s legendary breakfast.We could see satellites in the dark sky last night. They move a lot like airplanes so I¢m not sure how they could tell the difference. One of the satellites looked as if it might collide with an airplane but they missed by a few feet it seemed. We were lying on our backs listening to the Loons and watching satellites and we heard a car drive past our campsite. We¢re really close to the highway but it was dark and we couldn¢t tell. This morning when I un-velcro my tent we realized that we are camped in someone¢s front yard. There¢s a house right behind where we dropped everything last night. No one is eating breakfast this morning so we¢re heading out early.Tree was freezing cold last night in his 45 degree bag. He went to sleep without the silk liner and had to squirm around to find the extra layer in his tent in the middle of the night. I could hear him struggling throughout the night. Tree had a hard time falling back asleep after waking up shaking cold. We are all wearing our pajamas into Monson this morning. There is a long road walk into town so we might as well be comfortable. Hot Foot took the water slippers after the last ford over Piscataquis last night. He¢s wearing the slippers this morning as we enter the city limits.The houses in Monson are very basic. Some are ran down and falling apart. I noticed a few garage doors boarded up and I wonder why they had to go to all that trouble. Perhaps they board up the garages because of the weight of the snow drifts here. There¢s a beautiful lake on the side of the highway we¢re strolling down. There¢s a quarry to the left with huge black rock cliffs all around the pond. Those jagged black cliffs beckon me to jump off them into the deep dark cold beneath! If only it were summer! We play a game of kick the rock as we walk into the morning sunrise.At Shaw¢s there¢s a gnome and flamingo in the flower garden. The metal roof is black and they have red shutters. Someone saw Seeker inside and she motioned for us to go around back. Seeker and her brother ¢The Judge¢ are there but I practically ignore them. Not Bad is here!! She looks more rugged and sun bleached than I remember. Everyone I haven¢t seen in a long time looks dirty and worn out by the trail. I like the thought that maybe I look the same to them. Not Bad and I catch up really quick and I¢m so happy to see her again. Not Bad is leaving this morning to start the 100 Mile Wilderness! Dutchess skipped up earlier and should be summiting soon. Boss is closer, but Ice is at least three weeks behind back in NH.I¢m drinking a nice Cup o¢ Joe when the ¢Judge¢ comes up to reminisce with me for a while. We found out that Seekers brother is a military judge in Florida so I¢ve started referring to him as ¢The Judge¢. That name sounds better than ¢Major Bad¢. Judge hardly recognized me with my massive beard. He remembers me and I remember him. He¢s a really nice guy but I can¢t help but pick on him. He says that Seeker is having trouble finishing these last few sections so he came up to offer support. I laugh and tell him that this is the easy section. This next part of the AT is the section I¢d bring someone to if I didn¢t think they could hack it. He looked at me like I was being a jerk and walked away.Limestone and Mrs. Limestone are here also. Limestone seems so freaking happy that I expect him to explode at any moment. I haven¢t seen Limey since Harpers Ferry. This is his fourth attempt at becoming a thru-hiker and it¢s almost certain that he will make it this time. I¢m so glad for him. He deserves this thru-hiker title more than any of us. This man has hiked more of the AT that anyone in the room. Limestone started in Georgia every year to complete the whole trail in one session.¢Hard, Medium or Easy?!¢ interrupts Dawn from Shaw¢sAt first I had no idea what she was talking about. Without questioning what she meant I said, ¢Easy?¢ I didn¢t realize she was asking about eggs. I thought Dawn was just questioning my philosophy on life. I¢d been standing around being social and forgot about ordering breakfast. Kentucky, Hot Foot, Tree, Rock¢n¢Roll, Cowgirl and Chopsticks are at my table and getting ready for a feast. Chopsticks is so rambunctious that he¢s hard to keep up with in conversation. He talks quickly and you¢re never really sure if he¢s serious or not. Chopsticks is an excellent BS artist and it makes the breakfast table experience a pleasure.I get three blueberry pancakes and everyone else gets two. Cowgirl starts complaining about me getting more than anyone else. I tell her it¢s because I¢m being more personable this morning. I feel like chatty Kathy with all this caffeine coursing through my veins. Receiving the extra pancake might have been because I looked hungrier than anyone else.Shaw¢s has the most amazing fluffy eggs I¢ve ever seen. They¢re not springing them 50 cent per dozen eggs on us here. Shaw¢s is giving us the fattest eggs I¢ve ever seen! These sunny side eggs are impressively shaped and made with love. I feel bad eating these works of art but I devoured them. I watched the cook to learn how they were made after eating mine. Almost everyone had seconds. Some had thirds but I tried to moderate myself and be nice to Shaw¢s AYCE breakfast.This breakfast would spark an obsession with undercooked eggs. I¢ve made different forms of eggs for breakfast ever since being home.I can only think about my mail drop here at Shaws during breakfast. My food bag will be ridiculously large if I can¢t eat some of the food before packing it out. We had discussed having an eating contest at the AYCE buffet, but I respectfully declined. I will need to eat some of the mailed food before leaving. I only ate three blueberry pancakes, three eggs, three sausage, and three bacons before getting up from the table.My stomach is excited about the mail drop Lish sent me here. My spine and back muscles are the only thing that isn¢t looking forward to the massive box of supplies. Lish sent 7 days worth of food. I had planned to take 7-8 days through the 100 Mile Wilderness. My intensions were to say goodbye to Tree, Hot Foot and Rock¢n¢Roll today when they leave Monson. It¢s upsetting me to think I¢ll never see them again. My goal is to finish on the 17th and they¢re pushing for the 13th of September. I was looking for any excuse to stay with them a little longer.There is a Trails End Festival flyer posted on the door at Shaw¢s. The town of Millinocket is hosting thru-hikers at their festival from the 10th to the 13th of September. The Appalachian Trail Lodge is picking up hikers to assist with a ¢Hard Core¢ trail maintenance project. ¢Hard Core¢ is a similar volunteer program that took place at Trail Days in Damascus, VA. The Appalachian Lodge is shuttling hikers from three different locations within the 100 Mile Wilderness to Millinocket for the festival. The shuttle will return to the ¢Wilderness¢ and drop off the volunteers at their respective locations on the 13th.I can hike a little longer with Hot Foot and Tree and still finish on the 17th!Brilliant!!!This means I can hike the last few miles with Conan and Backward!Excellent!!!I¢m elated about this turn of events! My stomach was doing flips over the though of leaving my good friends behind. I dreaded the thought of missing Tree¢s optimism or Hot Foot¢s sarcasm for the rest of the trip. Never again laughing at Rock¢n¢Roll¢s insane stories sounded boring and disheartening. I also hated the thought of not being with Conan and Backward at the end. This ¢Hard Core¢ volunteer program worked right into my schedule and I could use it to give back to the AT and be selfish at the same time.The Plan:Hike with Tree and Hot Foot to Joe Mary RoadCatch the shuttle at Joe Mary Road by 7AM on the 10th of SeptemberHard Core Maintenance volunteering on the 10thTrails End Festival in Millinocket on the 11th ¢ 12thReturn to the AT on the 12th or 13th of SeptemberHike from Joe Mary Road to catch Conan and BackwardFinish on the 17th of SeptemberThis plan also causes and interesting shift on my food resupplying problem here at Shaws. I don¢t need as much food since I¢m being taken out of the 100 mile Wilderness. Basically I¢ll be able to carry less food weight and still be with all my friends. This is not a problem, this is great news! The only thing I feel rotten about is not staying with Conan and Backward. They¢re going to be disappointed because we planned to stay together until the end.Tree, Hot Foot and I go to see Moosehead Lake just down the road from Monson. Moosehead Lake is the largest body of water in Maine. I don¢t need to go to town to resupply. I don¢t need to go but I can¢t miss seeing the largest lake in Maine. I decide to hitchhike along with the fella¢s to the grocery store and back.We get a ride from a middle aged couple from Massachusetts. They¢re on vacation and out for a leisurely stroll through Maine. It¢s a beautiful day to do absolutely nothing but sightseeing! I met their young Labrador mix breed named, Sadie. She¢s sleek and slim as a greyhound and sweet as pie! Sadie sits in my lap the whole way to the grocery store. I scratch and massage her muscular brown body and get hair all over my face and shirt. Tree, Hot Foot and I both notice the gun at the same time. We are riding with a semi-automatic rifle in the front seat. The driver is an avid hunter and he¢s on the look out for bear. They tell us it¢s also protection from hitchhikers. His wife in the passenger seat reaches towards the 30/06 rifle. I hug their dog Sadie closer and closer to my chest to serve as my bulletproof shield. The lady reaches below her seat, fiddling with the gun, and struggling to remove something that we can¢t see. I squeeze Sadie tightly and grit my teeth. Tree, Hot Foot and I look like the Three Stooges and don¢t know what to expect next. We watch in horror as the lady removes¢¦a Coor¢s Light!Hell yeah!!!The lady removes cans of beer from beneath the passenger seat and passes them around. Five beers open simultaneously and I start doing the math. The driver isn¢t just driving. The driver is drinking with us. Sadie¢s long black toe nails stab into my leg as I stretch and squirm around in my seat. I¢m putting on my seatbelt! Tree and Hot Foot do the same with nervous smiles stretching across their faces. I hold onto young Sadie¢s chocolate fur and hope to God we aren¢t about to die. I nervously caress Sadie, adjusting her sharp claws on my flesh as we listen to the driver telling his bear hunting stories.See kids, this is why you should hitchhike! It¢s never boring.There¢s brown hair all over me when we arrive at the grocery store. My town shirt is covered in dirt, my hair is oily and standing straight up and now I smell like an unbathed chocolate lab. I don¢t need anything at the store but here I am. I haven¢t opened my mail drop box but I know I won¢t be lacking anything. I borrowed some shoes from Shaw¢s hiker box before leaving the hostel. Not only do I smell bad and look like a homeless mental patient but I¢m also wearing bright red clown shoes. The fluorescent red foam crocs on my feet are a size 14. People are staring at me as I walk through the isles of the grocery store. My shoes are flopping with each step and I feel like the only thing I¢m missing is a squeaky red nose. I smell the coffee from a mile away. I didn¢t bring my debt card or identification but I feel the urge to purchase some rum.If you don¢t have liquor, you¢re not camping¢¦you¢re just sleeping in the woods.The lady at the register doesn¢t think I look 21 years old. That¢s amazing considering how childish I look today in my clown outfit. I¢ll be thirty in a couple of days, so this helps my self-esteem. I stink like a M-A-N, but she won¢t sell me ¢Calico Jack¢ rum. Maybe 18 year olds grow large dirty beards to fool the cashiers here in Maine. She¢s wise to my tricks! $20 for 1.75 liters of ¢Calico¢ rum ain¢t a bad deal. I can¢t get it without proof that I¢m not an ATF agent. I found Hot Foot browsing through the store and asked him to purchase it for me. Hot Foot is 22. Skippy here is 29. It might be a little ironic, but I think I¢m making a big deal out of this because I feel bad about getting old.The general store reminds me of Walmart for rednecks. Everywhere around the store you find useless crap stuffed between trophy Whitetail bucks. You can purchase gourmet coffee while admiring various frozen, stiff, and lifelessly dead animals. They have a fishing isle right beside the liquor store. This place is home away from home!Tree and Hot Foot are taking forever to finish shopping. I left the redneck store and stand by the highway to enjoy the view of Moosehead Lake. Boat planes are circling the lake overhead in clear blue afternoon skies. Standing by the highway I can feel a faint gentle breeze blowing. Cars and logging trucks zoom by the lake that looks like a shiny piece of jewelry. To the residents of Monson this place is old news. If I were driving I¢d wreck my car staring at the shimmering water with floating turtle islands.Hot Foot and Tree finally finish window shopping at the store and we try hitching back. I stuck out my thumb while assuming the ¢Captain Morgan¢ one legged pose. The first van that passes by stops to give us a lift.The floor of the dusty blue conversion van is full of trash. Trash and prescription pill bottles. This should be interesting. The van is also filled with a very large young man and his even larger mother. Mom is morbidly obese and wearing a moo-moo. Her son is as big as an NFL linebacker. If the fat lady stood up, I¢m sure we¢d see her ass. The moo-moo outfit looks like a hospital gown. The large young man talks to us while his mother picks up at least 25 orange bottles of pills lying on the floor of the van. She must be diabetic I think to myself. She breathes heavily as she makes room for three hitchhikers. I notice the tree trunk sized arms of the young man as he turns the wheel of the van onto the highway. His massive arms are by-products of his occupation as a lumberjack. I notice a Bob Marley sticker on the dirty van windows. The windows are covered with what looks like Pit Bull snot. I asked the young man if he had a pit bull and everyone thought I was psychic. The young fellow tells us about his life, his kids, and being a lumberjack, but I couldn¢t take my eyes off his cool hat.I want that hat.I¢ve been searching for a hat just like that one for a long time. This gigantic kid has an enormous head. He has a head almost as tremendously large as mine. I knew it would fit. My head is huge.¢That¢s a cool hat ya got there!¢ I say.The young man tells a few more stories.¢It¢s hard finding hats big enough to fit my enormous head¢ I say.The young man hasn¢t noticed that I¢m working him for the prize.¢Where do you get a cool hat like that?¢ I say with a simple matter of fact tone.He lets me try the hat on and it fits my head perfectly. I make the hat look good. Tree and Hot Foot verbally agree with me. They¢re on to my attempts to trade for the hat at this point.¢Say, what¢d ya like to trade for this here hat?¢ I nonchalantly ask.¢What you got?¢ asks the NFL linebacker giant¢How about some rum!?¢ I asked while holding up my new bottle of Calico Jack¢Deal!¢ said the man with a chuckle from his large craniumTree and Hot Foot are laughing in disbelief when we get out of the van. I¢m wearing the coolest hat I¢ve seen in a long time. It only cost two swigs of rum! The mother and freshly hatless son dropped us off and wished us a safe journey. I¢ve got an awesome hat! I admire it as I pass by the store front windows of Main St. I like how it makes me look old-timey and rusty. I look like I just jumped off a train after hoboing across the US from California. I look ruggedly handsome with sun bleached hair sprouting from the bottom of my hat.We walk into a thrift store on the main drag of downtown Monson. The store owner gives us a hard look and mentions something about us stealing something. It¢s a thrift store ran on donations. There is no need to steal here she announces. I wonder what she meant by making that comment. Do we look like thieves? The store owner is sitting at the corner of the store and stirring 5 gallons of metal roofing sealant paint.¢The Lord told me to paint my store with this!¢ announces the crazy store managerShe¢s painting wood with metal sealant paint and it looks like crap. The old wood paint is flaking off with each brush stroke. The first time it rains it will peel like a banana. I think Jesus would have given her better advice. Then again, he was a carpenter not a painter.Conan and Backwards were at the Monson General Store. I tell them about my plan to assist with Hard Core and then return to the trail. They will be near Joe Mary Rd when I come back. They¢re sad but they know I¢ll catch them. Conan is going to the other hostel in town. They¢re not staying at Shaw¢s.Hot Foot forgot to purchase contact solution so he has to hitchhike back to the grocery store. It¢s going to take him a while to return so I have plenty of time to sift through my mail drop. I return the gigantic red crocs to Dawn at Shaw¢s and she trades me my mail drop package. They charge $3.00 to hold mail if you don¢t stay.My package is HUGE! 21lbs of food! So many goodies though. Yogurt covered pretzels and red velvet cookies! There¢s a Grateful Dead logo attached to the side of the box. I would later find out that the UPS guy attached that picture, not Lish. Lish sent the awesomest letter to me on architectural blue print paper. 3 vegan beef jerkys! I¢m so excited! 21lbs of food is definitely adequate for the 100 miles left.I couldn¢t get my dying cell phone to function properly to call home. The phone reception is notoriously bad in Monson. Dawn offers to let me use the computer after she takes a lunch break with her husband. She seems stressed out by us hikers being there. I can understand how someone could become jaded with us. We¢re a hard crowd to make money off of. We look for every possible excuse to save money or not spend it.Checked in with Lish and Karen back at home in North Carolina. Daytripper and Thunder are two days behind and trying to catch up to us. The two of them are also planning to summit on the 17th of September! Everything is going fine at home and it¢s time for me to head out into the 100 mile wilderness.Rock¢n¢Roll and Cowgirl have already left for the first campsite inside the wilderness. Tree and I pack up while we wait for Hot Foot to get back from town. When he arrives we wait for him and I tell Conan and Backward goodbye. I¢ll see them again but it¢s still hard to walk away from my friends. I¢m trading them for a little more time with Tree and Hot Foot who I¢ve become as close as brothers to.We hitchhike back to the trailhead just in time to see Compass and Southern walking into the forest. Compass and Southern yellow blazed to this spot after spending several days bouncing from town to town. They laugh at us because we can¢t seem to get ahead of them and their pesky cheating automobile shortcuts. They joke with us saying we should start walking, because they¢re going to catch us no matter what we do. They¢ll catch us as long as we walk and they ride in cars. Compass and Southern stayed at Lynn¢s cabin and then hitched all the way here to Monson. We sat on the dam by the road and said our goodbyes. Compass isn¢t hiking any farther; they¢re literally going to camp here by the road and then hitchhike from here tomorrow. They¢re yellow blazing all the way to Katahdin.We pass the prettiest waterfall on the whole trail at Little Wilson Falls. It looked like black stairs leading down into a cavernous ravine below. My camera made the white water blur so it looked like it was moving in the picture. We were exhausted by the time we made it to camp. Rock¢n¢Roll and Cowgirl were already there and ready for bed. Tree, Hot Foot and I had a hard time seeing to pitch our tents and cook dinner. It¢s dark as charcoal and my headlamp made it hard to see. My Calico Jack rum tastes like suntan lotion. It actually tastes like the sea. The rum doesn¢t taste anything at all like rum! I don¢t even eat dinner because I¢m still full from breakfast.