Date: 2022-08-11
From: Poplar Ridge Lean-to Mile 1984.6

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite Mile 1998.8
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: light rain

The morning passed uneventfully as we made our way up to Poplar Ridge and then down into the valley. The trail was relatively good and had few difficult spots and we made good time going down. At the bottom we came to Orberton stream which had several large rocks somewhat widely spaced. As I was crossing I missed stepping on the top ridge of one of them and having my foot slide off the rock. Fell hard on my butt on the rock but was still upright-ish sitting on the rock although one foot was submerged and the other briefly dunked. Managed to get up and across without getting further wet. Some good scrapes on my shim and likely a nice bruise but otherwise wasn¢t too bad. Orchid, Timex and another hiker witnessed my fall and all made it across OK.We found out later that Pilgrim fell in the same spot and ended up sitting in the water along with his pack. He got tangled up in his poles and it took him some time to get up and as a result a bunch of his equipment got soaked. Sounds like he¢s probably got some bruises but is otherwise OK. He stopped early at the first campsite to dry out the equipment as it¢s much heavier when wet. Fortunately his sleeping bag stayed dry. After the stream we started the climb up Lone Mt which was about 1700 feet over about 3 miles so it wasn¢t too bad of a climb. We stopped halfway up to too off water bottles. For some reason the water in the streams today is flowing well compared to streams on previous days and there was not as much of an issue with water today. Partially up the remaining climb I had both poles in one hand as I climbed up a large step. What happened next is up for debate. Orchid claims the poles came backwards. I allege she moved into the poles. Regardless the tip of one pole caught the bridge of her nose narrowly missing her eye. Fortunately just a small nick. It highlights one of the dangers of being the trailing hiker following closely, although usually it¢s a pole slipping on a rock that¢s the dangerous aspect. We made it the rest of the way up Lone Mt and then onto Spaulding Mt where we eventually stopped for lunch at a viewpoint just before Sugarloaf Mt (and the ski resort). When we arrived everything was fogged in, but while we were eating the fog lifted and we got some good views once again. The AT doesn¢t go over the top of Sugarloaf and with evening storms threatening we decided to skip the half mile climb up. However the trail turned as it made a steep technical descent down Sugarloaf Mt and we were rewarded with views of Mt Washington (about 70 miles away) and the Saddleback Ridge we climbed yesterday. The rest of the day passed uneventfully and Orchid and I made it to the planned campsite. We tried to setup both tents on a tent platform but mine takes up too much room to be able to fit both due to the large vestibule. Before dinner we walked up to the glacial cirque to check it out. There¢s some open water left and we spotted moose tracks around it. We were hoping to come back closer to sunset but as we were eating we started hearing thunder and rushed to make sure everything was put away. We were pretty much almost done when it started to rain. Unfortunately the rain was light and short lived so looking like just enough to wet the rocks.There is now less than 200 miles to go to Mt Katahdin and 80 miles until the hundred mile wilderness.Tomorrow is a nero (for Orchid and I, Pilgrim has an extra 6 miles) into Stratton ME where we¢ll also take a zero. Steps 28400Weather Forecast: 69/48 chance of rain