Date: 2008-08-09
From: Chairback Gap Lean-To

To: Sidney Tappan Campsite
Miles today: 12.0
Weather: light rain

[I'm on top of White Cap Mountain currently and it's August 10th. I've got good cell phone reception (probably the last before Katahdin) and called in the 8/7, 8/8, and 8/9 journal entries to Trail Boss. I also sent her a few more photographs to post. I'll make one last phone call from Abol Campground to update journal entries. Right now it looks like I will summit Katahdin Friday or Saturday, 8/15 or 8/16.]Weather today is wonderful. I say wonderful because there is not supposed to be any rain until through next Wednesday. The temps will be a little warmer. Past couple of days the high was only around 60 degrees. It will be about 10 degrees warmer for a few days coming up.I didn¢t remember Chairback Mountain being so bad to climb. I started climbing and it was pretty steep, but then leveled out. I kept on thinking I was near the top but the trail kept on going and going. Had to put up my poles because in some parts I needed my hands to pull myself up. But I didn¢t really mind the exertion because the bouldars were actually dry. It was a tough climb ¢ I was wrong about remembering the climb wasn¢t that bad. Then I managed to step into a large area of mud. Didn¢t really have much choice ¢ it was all around that portion of the trail. Kind of surprised it hadn¢t dried up yet.The largest descent recently was the 1,600 feet from the summit of Chairback down to the West Branch of the Pleasant River. Began hiking down the trail to the descent off Chairback's peak. Plenty of vertical bouldars and sharp rocks. Hand and foot placement going down was pretty important to prevent a fall. I met two southbound hikers; one a flip-flopper and the other a southbounder. They both stated that the rest of the "wilderness" was going to be a lot more enjoyable. (It¢s funny. My past memory didn¢t recall it getting much easier ahead, but I tend to forget a lot of things these days). I would have liked to have told these two hikers that their upcoming portion going southbound wasn¢t that difficult ¢ but I couldn¢t and I think they already knew the truth anyway. I worked my way down the rest of the Chairback descent to a logging road in the valley and then on to the West Branch of the Pleasant River. This required a fording. I looked around the river crossing, up and downstream for an easier crossing. I¢d hoped to find a spot where I could just go over the rocks in the river. But the water level was too high for that. So I just went ahead and forded my way across. There is about a 100 feet or so of water to go across. The current was strong but my poles kept me balanced. About 10 feet into the fording the water level went up to my knees and I began to worry how deep it would be in the middle. But the river never got much deeper and the crossing went fine.I guess I must have been a bit slow fording the river because two young guys caught up with me. We chatted during a brief break. One was using a hammock and the other a bivy sack. That made me think about my decision to stick with my tent instead of my hammock. Overall, I think it was the right decision. Given all the rain, the tent has just been a bit more weather durable. Plus the extra room. I guess I just got used to the extra weight of the tent ¢ don¢t even think about it anymore. I next came up on the Hermitage. This is a section of pine trees that you pass through for about a mile. This section of woods is supposed to be ecologically fragile and there is no camping or camp fires allowed.Then I was at the Gulf Hagas cutoff trail. This side trail is actually a loop that goes through all of the cliffs/valley/waterfalls of Gulf Hagas and then returns to the trail. If you do the entire loop the distance is a bit over five miles. But that way you don¢t miss any of the Appalachian Trail. There are a couple of other ways to go, but you will either not see everything there is to see, or you will bypass part of the AT. I had definitely planned on going through the Gulf Hagas. I¢d bypassed it in the past. The extra five miles were fine with me ¢ I was only going 11 miles on the trail today. Since the loop trail would be returning me to where I was, I decided to hide my pack where it couldn¢t be seen and travel with just a few things while I toured Gulf Hagas. I¢d done this before (hiding my pack) and it worked out okay. Hopefully it would work today, also.The primary Gulf Hagas feature is a beautiful gorge. That¢s why it is called the ¢Grand Canyon of the East.¢ The waterfalls are a real sight to see. I imagine that due to the recent rains their volume of water was really high. Slate walls drop over 500 feet to the bottom, below. Signs pointed to small side trails that had sights such as "The Jaws", "Screw Auger Falls", and "Hammond Street Pitch". There were also a number of unnamed viewpoints which offered views of the slate walls and water rushing far below. The surrounding cliffs had been carved by thousands of years of the river's erosion. I found out all of this by reading information signs that were placed throughout the area. The trail brought me to the edges of the cliff on the east side, called Buttermilk Falls. There was also a side trail that went down to the pool of water below the falls.I didn¢t really have enough time to do all of the many side trails within Gulf Hagas. There was some effort in doing the loop trail, especially on the way back to the AT. I still had climbs over the roots and vertical rock walls heading back to the AT. As I got back to the AT I began to get a little apprehensive about finding my pack. It¢s always possible I would forget where I hid it; or a human might have taken it; or an animal might have eaten it up. But I found it without any problem and no person/creature had disturbed it.Stopped briefly at the Carl Newhall Lean-To and ate my final snack for the day. Then the climb of Gulf Hagas Mountain. There was a lot of climbing with a 2100 foot climb up to the top of Gulf Hagas Mountain. It was getting a bit late in the day when I started up the mountain. I had thought earlier about whether it would be better to just stay at the Newhall Lean-To for the night. But there were quite a few folks already staying there (it was a Saturday, afterall) and I wanted to get a few more miles completed for the day. So up and over the mountain. The Sidney Tappan Campsite was less than a mile further along the trail.Got to the tentsite and found a wonderful spring nearby. The campsite was a good bit higher than the Newhall Lean-To. And there was a nice, steady breeze. Those two things helped keep the insects away during the evening. Only saw one other tent and never saw the person it belonged to. Guess they had already called it a night. After a quick dinner I was ready to call it a night, also.Rocks In Gulf Hagas