Date: 2008-08-13
From: Long Pond Stream Lean-to ME

To: Chairback Gap Lean-to ME
Miles today: 10.9
Weather: overcast clouds

Day 178 Wednesday August 13 ¢ Chairback Gap Lean-to ME - Miles Today: 10.9 Total Miles: 2087.7Today was pretty much an uneventful day although so far it hasn't rained so I guess that does make it an eventful day for us. Yesterday we had a good downpour for about an hour in the evening and the trails were still draining a bit today. They were soupy in places but overall the trails are still light years better than what we experienced pre-Monson. Perhaps the worst week of weather and trail conditions are behind us. Today was our next to the last day of climbing mountains. We only had 11 miles to do because of the shelter spacing of 11 miles and 21 miles. We opted for the 11 miles. Because everyday seems to have to have drama lately, we added our own today since the weather and streams did not provide any. The drama for today was that Grasshopper has acquired an intestinal bug. She had a bit of diarrhea twice today. We¢re not sure if Brakeman¢s headache today means he is also coming down with the bug or if it was simply allergy related. There just always seems to be something happening. If it's not rain, it's high water, or the fact that we're not feeling quite well. But life is still good. We talked to Scofield and Rabbit today and both of them are just so ready to be done. We explained to them that we just say to ourselves, ¢5 more hiking days and the summit¢. When we think about it in that light, it's not so much, and reminds us that life is still pretty good. I'm not saying that we're not looking forward to having an unlimited number of zero days, but 5 more hiking days and a summit is not too much. Rabbit, by the way, started around April 7th. He¢s made great strides!Today we didn't have any stream crossings so we didn¢t have a way to gauge how the streams are draining. Tomorrow we do have one ford, so it will be interesting to see how much lower the streams are running. Perhaps they are back to normal. Due to the low miles today, we got to the shelter at 2:00.   We've freshened up and are now relaxing and getting ready for our remaining days. Although we only have 5 more days of hiking, tomorrow¢s 17-mile day is still in the mountains, and it is followed by 19.6 and 21.7 mile days. So although we only have 5 hiking days left, I think we've got 3 tough days of hiking plus a summit. We're not out of the woods yet. Ha-Ha.Tomorrow will probably be our toughest day in the 100 Mile Wilderness. We're doing 17.1 and will finish the mountains in the wilderness. After that, it's pretty flat. We're expecting, though, that the flat terrain will not be a walk in a city park due to bogs, mud, and rumored 3' high roots. But it will get easier. It's 4:00 and we have made ourselves at home in the shelter. Due to the weather and saturated ground, we have pretty much given up on tenting unless it's required.   Our immediate plans are to take a little nap, then eat dinner and go right back to sleep. So far it's just us in the shelter, though we expect others may join us, though most of the hikers we saw today were pushing on to the next shelter so that they could summit on the 18th. We're not scheduled to summit until the 19th. After our nap, more hikers arrived. The first guy that arrived was very cordial and nice but a bit suspicious: · His wrist was bandaged in an ace bandage. · His gear was a bit unusual ¢ it contained a regular kitchen pot and a white down comforter. He said he is a thru-hiker and had his gear stolen in Hanover at the Dartmouth Outing Club, but really could not provide much in the way of details as to how and where it was stolen. · He asked us if we lost a pair of sandals. We said no.   He then proudly reported he found a pair on the trail today and since they fit him and do not belong to us, that he has just gained a pair of shoes. · A few minutes later he asked if we lost a knife on the trail. We again said no. He pulled the knife out of his pocket, opened it, remarked how there was still blood on the blade and said he found himself a new knife today. Gulp, our throats went. This is sounding mighty weird. · As he cooked his bean dinner over an open fire, he told us how he picked mushrooms during the day to add to his dinner. We explained that we were not real confident in our mushroom identification skills to take the chance on eating them. ¢Oh¢, he said, ¢I¢m not either. I just use trial and error. Well, I guess not really trial and error, since I¢m still here, so perhaps, just trial and trial. Some are like tea. Some are like coffee. And some cause me to talk obsessively to the dismay of the other hikers who are trying to sleep.¢· After his bean and mushroom dinner, he heated up some coffee and asked if we wanted some. ¢No thanks¢, our voices said, while our minds said, gee, let¢s think about this¢¦you did not filter your water, who knows when you last cleaned your pot, you just cooked who knows what dangerous mushroom in that pot¢¦ah, so I guess that means NO THANKS.· Later in the evening a young sobo hiker arrived and the two guys quietly disappeared around the side of the shelter, whispering as they went. The next thing we heard was the coughing associated with none other than the inhaling of a not-so-good substance, in this case, pot.As we went to sleep, Grasshopper¢s mind raced. She had it all figured out. He¢s an escaped criminal. The reason why he has a bandage on his wrist is that it¢s hiding the remains of a handcuff. Oh gosh, what should we do? Sure am glad we have 2 lady hikers and a young guy hiker separating us from this suspicious hiker! Guess we¢ll just put in our earplugs and go to sleep.Speaking of the lady hikers - as we were sitting in our bags in the shelter, looking out into the woods, we saw a lady hiker appear from the thicket, grinning from ear to ear as she spotted the shelter. It was Lady Slipper, the section-hiker/day hiker who was being supported by her husband in the motor home. We ran into her nearly 4 months and 1300 miles ago! She¢s having the time of her life hiking Maine with a friend, ¢like a thru-hiker¢, as she says. Not sure how she lost the trail just shy of the shelter, but the energy she expended to get through the thicket and the wide smile she wore on her face as she broke out into the clear, made us smile as well. She told us that she also saw us in North Adams Massachusetts talking to some hikers who just got out of a car. Ah, we remember that day well - it was the day of Brakeman¢s 4.5 donut breakfast, followed by a major sugar crash a few miles up the trail - and it was the day we saw Spruce again, which surprised us greatly. He was hiking as slow as us ol¢ folks! He was getting out of a car after taking a day off in Dalton to visit a swimming hole and then spending a day being slack-packed by Tom Levardi, the infamous Dalton Trail Angel. Goodnight from a gorgeous day with blue skies and just a few white and gray clouds¢¦but no rain!   May we have an uneventful night, despite our suspicious shelter mate!