Date: 2005-09-13
From: Moxie Bald lean-to

To: Monson, ME (Ed's House)
Miles today: 17.9
Weather: haze

This morning we met the rest of our neighbors at Moxie Bald, among them were the Odd Couple (an uncle and nephew team-Ed and Scott), Hippie Long Stockings, Red Blaze, and a couple of southbounders. Before we could leave the shelter, Teams Hairbunny and T-Drop arrived. They awoke at 4:30am to catch up to us. I think they had it up their sleeves to sneak up on us and unstake our tent, but luckily for us we were packed up and ready to leave when they arrived.We were off and hiking a really good pace until we had our first ford of the day. It wasn't listed as a ford but with all of the rains we have had lately, it became one. I was the first to attempt it and before I even really got my feet wet, I went in. I made the mistake of stepping on a slick rock and my foot went right out from underneath me. Snowbunny was kind enough to rescue my Leki pole before it went too far downstream. My rear was awfully wet but luckily my backpack didn't get too wet. Everyone else after me passed very carefully with no problems. Before we got to the next ford nearly 4 miles later, my skirt had dried out. We all decided to break for lunch near Horseshoe Canyong Lean-To, but rather than walk up to the shelter we went down to the Piscataquis River and sat on the rocks to cook our lunch. Bug and I feasted on a lunch of mashed potatoes mixed with stuffing, cheese, and chicken. It was delicious, but by the time we finished I felt sick and overstuffed. There is one thing about it though, our meal provided me with enough energy to get into Monson. The post office closed at 4pm today, so we decided to give the guys one last hurrah and let them hike ahead into town to get our packages. Us girls made our way at a good pace and at the last ford waded our way across. Ed (the Odd Couple) lives in Monson and he offered to let us all stay there, shower, and wash our clothes. We talked with him for awhile at the ford and made sure it would be ok for all 6 of us to stay and he assured us it was fine. He also told us that we could expect a couple of bumps between there and town, but that they weren't anything and he hadn't even remembered climbing over them before, they were that easy. Let me assure you that they were something and they were memorable! Snowbunny, Raindrop and I stopped at the trail to Lake Hebron to eat a couple of snacks before pushing on. Train had told us we had to stop and feed Raindrop every 2 hours. It wasn't long before we arrived at the highway and the end of our day. Now, you would think that 3 attractive, 20-something ladies would be picked up very quickly (after all, people in the cars couldn't smell us before stopping). It took us 30 minutes to get a ride into town (the longest we have ever had to wait), but a nice gentleman in a pick-up finally stopped to pick us up along with Ed.He dropped us at the General Store in town where we were to meet the guys. The kicker is that they had gotten a ride within the first 5 minutes of coming off the trail. The guys were pretty beat, at one point this afternoon they were hiking a pace of 4.6 mph. They took no breaks and there was no sitting down or having fun (this is verbatim what was relayed to me), they even ran for a time. It is a good thing this is their last time hiking alone together, otherwise they might kill themselves before reaching Katahdin. Bug said that he ate a Snickers while hiking up Buck Hill and it was the worst Snickers he has eaten on trail. The irony of it all is that Snickers is a favorite and coveted trail treat. After unwinding a little, Bug and I went into the store to supplement our maildrop with other items to resupply. Tim, the owner, has to be one of the nicest vendors I have met along the trail. He was super friendly. We managed to come out of there without having spent too terribly much money. From there we headed on down to Ed's house. His house was a designer's dream (at least this designer's dream). The house had been built in the late 1800's and it has pretty much all the original millwork, but needs to be fixed up, painted, and furnished still. Ed filled us in on the history of the house and gave us the grand tour. Bug and I decided to take the "sunrise room" on the third floor. There is no plumbing or electricity up here and he suggested we use the "pee bucket" at night so as not to have to climb 2 flights of stairs down. I made sure to go (downstairs) before I came to bed. We went over to the mobile station and ordered pizza for dinner and brought it back here to eat and boy, was it good. Tomorrow we enter the 100-mile wilderness and we are so close to being finished it doesn't even seem real!