Date: 2015-07-28
From: Spaulding Mtn Lean To

To: Reddington Campsite
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: moderate rain

7/28/2015Treadway: 9/10Weather: Sunny and hot 6/10Stats:11.04 mi5:58:421.8 mph1963 cAvg hr 106 bpm3139 ft up3125 ft down 20167 stepsNarrative:My tent was drenched this morning. It's miserable to get going after a rainy night and I slept in until 5:10 am and was on the trail around 6:15 am. One of the young guys in the shelter was curious about my breakfast mix after he saw me drink it, so I told him what it was before hitting the trail. At 6:32 am, I was at the cutoff for the Abraham trail. At 7:00 am, I made it to Lone Mtn. At 8:33 am, I was just before the fording of the Orbeton and took photos of the rows and rows of tents for the Quebecoise who were helping to refurbish the Poplar Ridge Lean To for the MATC. At the ford, I had to get my feet wet, and there was a bit of a traffic jam because of two large groups, one going south and another heading north, so I did not stop to hydrate and came to regret that, as the way up was hot and steep. At 10:35 am, I reached Poplar Ridge, with nice views. About 5 minutes after that, I made it to the shelter. This was my planned destination for the day, but the trail volunteers were literally taking the shelter apart to rebuild it, and it was quite a commotion. I met Lush, the caretaker I first saw at Horns Pond. She was working on the shelter too and I learned that she is a triple crowner, AtSoBo, PCTNoBo and CDTSoBo. She completed the triple crown with the CDT in 2013. She thought the PCT was much easier than the CDT. One MATC volunteer made the excellent suggestion that I use nails taken out of the old shelter as tent stakes. Georgia showed up after I did, and we decided to head for Reddington Campsite, which one of the MATC volunteers said was very nice. At 1:30 pm I took photos of all the work that was going on, and then hit the trail again. At 2:27 pm, we were on top of Saddleback Junior, with great views in all directions. The leader of the large group took my photo on the summit, and I met Ziel, the first Californian so far, from San Jose. Ziel is in Maine for the summer because he has an uncle who lives in Vermont and somehow he then got connected to this Maine hiking group. He lives near SJ State and was familiar with the late-night burrito joint I frequented while prepping for depos in San Jose, and he also told me that the pool at SJ State was being seriously upgraded. On the way down Saddleback Junior, the downhill was very hard and I fell twice. Around 3:30 pm, I reached Reddington Campsite. It definitely was not ¢very nice¢ and I wonder if the MATC volunteer told us that just to get us to move on. After finding a place to pitch my tent, I took a photo of the sign at 4:11 pm and then got my water and made my camp. After that, I hanged out with Georgia and Transporter, another SoBo who got his name after moving stuff around during a work for stay he pulled at Shaw¢s. Transporter is from Ocala, Florida, and I told Georgia and him about the shoot out of the Karpis-Barker Gang in Ocala back in the 1930¢s. I had plenty of time today to catch up on my journal entries and eat a leisurely dinner. Back to Twinkle Toes. Georgia told me he ran into Twinkle Toes too at Horseshoe with Outlaw and Butter. Twinkle Toes apparently has smoked ¢pounds¢ of weed on the trail and he used to be a founding member of the Pub Club, a gang of substance abusing NoBos who raised so much hell going up the trail that hostels would call ahead to alert the next hostel and ultimately they had to split up to avoid permanent persona non grata status. Fascinating stuff.