Date: 2006-07-21
From: Stratton

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: broken clouds

The Day I Thought I'd Have to be Air Lifted Off the Mountain!So, last night I went out and partied a bit with a northbounder, Night Rider. Had a good time, but didn't get to bed until about 1 am, way past my hiker bedtime of about 7:30 or 8. Of course, I wake up today at my usual hiker wake up time of 5:30 am. So, I mess around on the computer, go to the store to buy some postcards, call home (once it gets late enough) and eat some Lucky Charms for breakfast. Then, I take a nap! I wake up and get packed up and get my bounce box in order and a package to send home and such. Don, the owner of the Stratton Motel, offers me a ride to the PO and the trail, and so I'm back on the AT by 11. A little later than planned, but ready to go. I tighten up my boot straps (had my folks send me my boots in Stratton in hopes that they will be more suitable for the terrain than my trail runners) and not twenty paces on the trail and I fall face forward! So much for the boots helping to remedy my falling habit! Now, I'm climbing up North Crocker mountain and making pretty good time and the weather which had been overcast turns to rain. Nothing like leaving town dry and clean only to go hike in the rain! I immediately smell! But this too, is part of the hiking experience. I meet several nobo's rushing to make Stratton. Nobo's are all in a hurry now, pushing big miles because they have Katahdin fever. One of them, Snickers, even said sarcastically to me, that in three month when he's sitting on his couch, he'll think of me still hiking. I bet he will and he'll wish he was still hiking instead of being back at work or school!So now I'm up and over North Crocker mountain and I'm almost at the top of South Crocker mountain (no views due to the clouds and rain) and I meet another nobo, Furious. I ask him about the terrain going down hill because coming off of N. Crocker was a little too rocky for my liking. He tells me that it's pretty good, but there is one section that is steep and rocky. He also tells me that there is a sobo named Mary ahead of me. He didn't see Dawn or Coal so he assumes she is solo. I'm hoping that it is the Mary I know and that I will catch up with them at the camapsite. Positive thoughts. I'm just a mile from the campsite and there's a good chance that my ne hiking friends are there.Well, that section that was steep and rocky that Furious told me about was about more than I could handle. It seems that the trail follows a rock slide down the mountain. The slope had to be at least 80 degrees. Math teachers have your students draw a line with an 80 degree slope- it's steep! Well, I must be developing an anxiety towads steep rocky downhills because I did't think I was going to make it. I seriously thought about blowing my whistle until somebody came and got me. My thoughts were of why does the MATC put the trail where you have to traverse such difficult terrain? Do they have some warped sense of humor, because I do not find this funny! Maybe they just like things of a macabre nature, after all, Stephen King is from/lives up in ME - maybe it has something to do with th the long winters, it messes with their minds! Or maybe they like extreme challenges and I'm just not that extreme!But, tough as I am, I pushed on and made it down the mountain and to the Crocker Cirque Campsite. I sat down on a tent platform and let out a huge sigh of relief to be done with my 7.3 miles of the day. There is a great stream next to the campsite with the coldest clearest water I've seen yet. Then I hear a dog growling and I go exploring to see if it's who I think it is and it is! Dawn, Mary, and Coal are there. We enjoy conversation and I make a late dinner and then it's off to bed. I decide to devote this section between Stratton and Rangely to companionship and go from shelter to shelter with Dawn, Mary, and Coal. I have enough food and the terrain looks challenging enough to warrant doing less miles.