Date: 2017-09-07
To: Finish 100 mile wilderness
Miles today: 0.0

Sept. 2, 2017 Mileage 13.2 Camped the night before at Nahmakanta Lake at a Maine Appalachian Trail Club campsite. It was right on the beach next to the water and out of the wind, as it was VERY windy that day. Nice sunrise Monday, and a calm lake. I heard some splashing going on outside ny tent on the beach, so I had to investigate. As I unzipped my tent fly I saw three beavers frolicing in the shallows just outside the tent door. After a few minutes, I stood up which of course scared them and they quickly dove under and made the typical beaver splash. After a quick breakfast I decided to try to find a leak in my air mattress. Since the waters were calm it would be easy to find the escaping bubbles. Sure enough I was able to locate a small hole. Now to fix it. I did have patch material with me so it would just take time to dry the mattress and then patch it. I told Black Sheep to start hiking and that I would catch up in a while. Patching went well and I was back on the trail at 9:15. About two hours after Black Sheep left to hike. I finally caught up to him ten miles later at about 3:30 pm. Then we walked together to Antlers Campground arriving at 5:30 pm. We set up camp on a point of land next to the lake and enjoyed a quick supper before heading to bed at 7:30.Sept 3. As I write this entry it's raining outside. Today we started out separately again as I slept in a little longer than Black Sheep. There were a lot of people in camp last night. Maybe about 20 people all heading north. Only one other person was south bound. Today the weather was cool and cloudy with rain expected tonight, as we are getting now. We did 14.1 miles today. Since Black Sheep left an hour before me, he didn't get to enjoy any trail magic. When I came out to this road crossing, there was a pickup parked and the gentleman had just placed a cooler in the woods with pop and chips a little ways in from the road. Many times a trail angel will just put a cooler full of ice and drinks just out of sight from the road, but on the trail so hikers can enjoy their kindness. I had a bag of chips and a coke. I also took two more cokes and four small bags of chips so I could share them with Black Sheep when I catch up to him. I knew he had missed the angels because they had just place the cooler in the woods before I got there and I had not yet caught up to Black Sheep. Sept 4 It rained all night last night. I got a little wet in the tent due to the wind blowing so hard and a constant rain. Also I think the tent is showing it's age as it is starting to leak from the seams. Need to purchase seam sealer and touch up a few holes when I can. Had to pack up this morning with wet tent. We started out with a gentle up which as the morning went by became very steep and rugged. We were climbing White Cap Mt. Finally broke through tree-line at 12:30 pm. Beautiful views all around. We were able to get out of the wind by going behind some small spruce trees. There we laid out all our wet gear on the rocks to dry in the wind and the sun. Also ate our lunch. Walked down the Mt. side, up another Mt., and down again and did that one more time before coming to Sydney campground. Past hiker midnight now, so will say good night. Yes, I am "living the dream".Sept 5, Tues. Today found us getting a little later start than normal. Joining Black Sheep and I, was a man from Anchorage Alaska by the name of Holcomb. We walked and talked all day together. It was a good hike with a few ups and downs. After about five miles we came to a shallow river where I took my shoes off and waded across. Next we came to another steep uphill. To climb this mountain, it would take one hour and fifteen minutes to go just one mile. That's how steep it was. Once at the top we would take a side trail to some camping spots on a lake called Chairback Pond. The thing is now we needed to go down steeply for a quarter mile to the pond. What a workout. We set up camp, ate supper and crawled into our tents just as it started to rain. Tonight we all will fall asleep to raindrops on our tents. More to follow.