Date: 2013-07-27
From: Bald Mountain Brook Lean-To

To: Shaw's in Monson, ME
Miles today: 22.0
Weather: clear sky

The rain that had drenched me the previous day, had continued through the night. Although I've never been fond of sleeping in the filthy shelters along the AT, I appreciated having a roof last night. It seemed as I progressed further north, that the frequency of rain in the evenings had increased. Sometimes my timing of arrival at a shelter before the rain was impeccable, other times not. My arrival at the the Stratton Pond Shelter back in Vermont was one time I was lucky, missing a heavy down pour in the early evening by minutes. Yesterday, however, I had hiked several hours in the rain, before I decided I had enough, and needed a dry asylum. I had shared the shelter with Gummy Bear and Berenstein Bear, along with a few others. I recall one couple were heading south bound, and an older portly man who was out for a short few days of section hiking. It was dark when my small group woke. We packed our thermarests and bags, then ate breakfast. It was overcast in the morning, the understory still dripping wet. I meandered my way down the slope around large moss-covered boulders and roots, to the AT, which climbed the lower southern flanks of Moxie Bald at a moderate grade for a short distance. The AT twisted its way under large blocks towards the top. At the summit, the visibility was poor! The summit was marked by a sign supported by a pile of rocks on a vast rock dome. The cairns were the only means to navigate an otherwise elusive path across rock slab. I took a few summit shots, including a peculiar anchor in the form of a 1.5 in diameter, rusty ring, bolted to the rock. I assume it was to tether a preexisting structure. I continued off the back side along slippery ledges, broken by 2-ft wide extension cracks. It would be easy to skate off the rock and over the 20-ft drop! I hiked cautiously! The summit route intersected the by-pass route near the top, before descending steeply down the north flank to flat topography...or "flat appearing topography" per AWOL's 2013 guide. The AT followed the banks of large streams perhaps 50 to 100-ft above the channel. There were many short steep ups and downs across small tributary drainages. It followed gradient of the Bald Mountain Stream, then forded the West and East Branches of Piscataquis River respectively. North of the Horseshoe Canyon Lean-To, the trail climbed a couple of short, steep hills, before intersecting ME 15. I passed the the Historic AT at mile 2,068.1, which led the hiker directly to the street passing by the Shaw's in Monson. Monson is about 4.0 miles east of the trailhead on ME15. At the parking lot, a gentleman shuttling a couple back to Bangor, who had just slack packed a section of the 100-mile wilderness. I asked him if I could hitch along to Monson. I told him that I'd need a shuttle to Bangor myself, once I completed my through hike, giving him incentive to drive me. He gave me his card and said it would be in the ball park of 125.00 from Katahdin. I had no intention of using him, since I knew there were cheaper alternatives such as hitching, and a bus line that ran out of Milinockett. The driver dropped me off at the intersection of Pleasant Street, where Shaw's stood a couple of blocks down. As I hiked my way down to Shaw's, Stinky Foot, an Austrian whom I met back in Damascus, VA had just stepped out of a car. I could not believe my eyes! It was so awesome to reunite, though he had left his sister, Haykuna Matada perhaps 200 miles south, to catch me. Since I last saw him at Waynesboro (the south gate to Shenandoah National Park), he had been following some 6 days behind according to the bread crumbs (shelter log entries) I had left behind for fellow hikers I had passed. Following shortly after, came Gummy Bear, Sandman and Berenstein Bear. I first met Sandman at the Bald Mountain Brook Lean-to. He was in his 30's and well educated. I learned that he had left the AT for a week or two to attend a wedding, so got left behind by the group he was originally hiking with. This was also true of two young sister from New York whom I first met at the Hikers Welcome Hostel near Glencliff, NH and then at Elisa Brook shelter before Kinsman Mountain, named Pancakes and Cricket. They were departing the AT part way through the Whites for a wedding and not returning for two weeks. By the end of the day, the group at Shaw's grew to include Gummy Bear, Berenstein Bear, BB, Lugie, and Half and Half (formally Stinky foot). We ended up enjoying delicious BBQ'd food at the Spring Creek BBQ around the corner and had paid a visit to Robinson's mini market. We agreed as a group that we could not resupply in Monson and would collectively shuttle to Greenville the next day. I fell fast asleep after a long day's hike in the comfortable single bed at Shaw's.