Date: 2014-09-16
From: Pine Ellis Hostel Andover, Maine

To: South Arm Road, Andover, Maine
Miles today: 10.1

I slack packed from one Andover exit to the next, a distance of 10 miles and a rise of an estimated 3,000 feet with a corresponding drop. The benefit of slack packing is to get some miles in without the extra 30 pounds of the pack pushing or pulling you in the downhills and uphills. So far this evening, my legs and knees are aching less than last night. The strategy seems to be working. The downhills are the hardest on the legs, especially when there are some high steps (e.g. 24 "). Even with lower mileage lately, I feel the climbing and descending has been taking a toll."Lately"rode out to the trailhead with me, but took off like my Jack Russell, Peanut, after a squirrel, and I never saw her again until I got back to the hostel. It took me 6 hours to do 10 miles, which is slower than the 2 miles per hour I use as a guide. I made it across the first mountain faster than 2 mph but the second was steeper than a miles face with trail that clung to the bluff like a grapevine to a poplar tree. The rain helped slow me down making the dirt and rocks slippery. Even without a heavy pack I slipped down on my butt once.Day before yesterday on the descent from Bald Pate I picked up a single Croc clog. I used it as a test dummy by tossing it down the trail 10 feet but each time it bounced about 30 feet. (The descent here was a series of steep ledges.) I thought if it slipped that is exactly what my body would be doing. If course, I was as careful as possible but at the same time thankful for prayers for safety.At the bottom of the cliff, I attached the single Croc to my pack as hikers tend to do. When ever I passed a hiker they tried to tell me I was missing a shoe. But I explained I had found it on the trail and was looking for the Princess it belonged to. When I arrived at the trailhead, I placed the shoe on a rock just in case the owner was getting back on the trail at this intersection. When we arrived at the trailhead this morning, David the driver asked if that were anyone's shoe. "Lately" looked and said it was the one she was missing. We should have changed her trail name to Cinderella at that point.I passed plenty of Moose poop today but saw none. I heard one grouse drumming and jumped two along the trail. They will scare the daylighting out of you if you are caught off guard because they take off with an explosion of sound with the flapping of their wings. One didn't go far and stopped so I could tell it looked more like the Northern Spruce Grouse because of the darker feathers. Of course, you can't expect me to tell if it has the distinguishing red eye patches. (Danny is color-blind - note from Marcia)The rain made the trail slippery and my hands cold in the morning, but when I came to an overview in the afternoon on Moody Mountain, I could see a series of mountains and ridges with their halos of fog and clouds with the sun peeking through from the mostly overcast sky.I went back to Mills Deli for lunch and came back with a Greek Pizza. As I sat at a table and talked with the same ladies who were there yesterday, they showed me an article a about the "liars bench." The building across the street used to be the general store and the local men would gather in front on a sturdy wooden bench and tell stories of the nearby Appalachian Trail. The ladies of the community back then called it the liars bench because they believed the men to be misleading the young people. The last name of the store was Halls but before it was Halls it belonged to the grandfather of the lady chatting at the table with me.Part of hiking the AT is connecting with the stationary hiker communities I pass through. I went back to Pine Ellis Lodging and told Ilene, the owner, I had to get going tomorrow, because I was feeling so at home in this tiny hamlet of Andover, Maine.