Date: 2010-08-22
From: Mahoosuc Notch campsite

To: Baldpate Lean-to
Miles today: 9.4
Weather: light rain

22nd Sunday August ¢ 9.4 miles to Baldpate Lean-toSeveral hard rain showers tested my tent placement last night. My entire tent area is soggy but my sleeping bag is relatively dry. I¢ve discovered that a little moisture on my down bag isn¢t life threatening. Slept really well for a change! I think my cold is starting to fade away. The rain drops sung me to sleep last night. Even though Wizard was 20ft away in his tent, I could still hear him snoring and had to apply my ear plugs. I forgot how loudly he snores. He kept me up in the room next door at the church hostel in Troutdale, VA.Michigan woke everyone up leaving this morning. He¢s carrying the torch to Andover for Poundtown today. They¢ve got to make it to Katahdin by the 9th of September and they¢re behind at this point.I made turkey and potatoes last night for dinner but couldn¢t finish it. I double bagged the leftovers and let it sit over night because it was tough to chew. The dehydrated meat grounds are like rubber. This morning isn¢t any exception. The meat is still tough but now it¢s chewy and cold. I¢m out of breakfast food so it¢s pretty much my only choice here. It takes me awhile to eat it all. Several trips to the water source were required to wash it all down. Today¢s plan calls for going up the Mahoosuc Arm very slowly. It¢s still rainy and cold outside. Foggy and all you can see is the first 100ft of your surroundings.Tree and Jenn leave before Wizard and me. I was waiting for the lovebirds to get moving so they wouldn¢t have to pass me as I walked slowly. Last night Wizard overheard that I was running out of food and I needed to go to Bethel to make it to Andover. Wizard offered me some supplies to get me over the shortage. ¢Sardines and a pack of tuna¢ said Wizard in his Boston ascent. I¢m hungry but I¢m not desperate, yet. Besides he may have been carrying those sardines since Georgia. I know I wouldn¢t have any reason to carry them.The climb up the Arm was as dangerous as I¢d imagined and heard. Despite the Mahoosucs Arm difficulty, it was over in a very short time. The cold rain and threat of hypothermia keeps you focused on one thing at a time. All you have to do is keep moving. You¢ll be fine if you keep your body temperature up.Speck pond was astonishing! The fog made the place look like a picture on a Hallmark card. Lilly pads of bright green floated somewhere between the mist and water. It was a little disorienting this early in the morning. The fog was so thick that it¢s hard to discern where the water ended and the hazy sky began. The vegetation appeared to hover in the air.Tree, Jenn, and T-Funk are at the Speck Pond lean-to taking a breather. Everyone has their jackets on and we can see our breath. I¢m glad to finally be back in the cold weather again! Now I have reason for carrying my winter crap. I talk to Lish on the summit of Speck Mountain. She¢s doing great but it¢s been 100 degrees back at home. I¢m listening to her tell me how hot it is there and my hands are shivering. Maine is a wonderful place to be! The way life should be!Tree tells me in confidence that he¢s ready to hike alone again. He¢s been hiking with Jenn for 6 days and now he¢s ready to do guy stuff again. Tree wants to fart, burp, drink beer and hang out with his thru-hiker buddies again. He¢s looking forward to taking breaks when he feels like it and going at his own pace again. We are all envious of the relationship between Conan and Backward. It¢s rare to find someone you can tolerate at all. It must be even more difficult to find someone you can tolerate in the worst of conditions out here on the AT.Jenn is returning to school soon. I tell her to write a ¢What I did on my Summer Vacation¢ memoir before she forgets how awesome we were. She should write about the bums and antics of Poundtown but she didn¢t seem interested in the project. I make up some instant milk and discuss with Tree how I could see myself buying powdered milk from now on the save money. It¢s a lot cheaper that way. Jenn informs me that dehydrated milk is horrible for your health. ¢Hexa-six carbons and denatured DNA!¢ said Jenn with a look of concern on her face. That seemed pretty serious to me. It could have been bullshit, but I wouldn¢t have known better. Some ¢mad scientist¢ I am, huh!?T-Funk is worried about getting a hitch into Bethel. He¢s eaten himself into a commitment of going to town today also. He doesn¢t think there will be any traffic or no one will pick us up. I¢ve stopped worrying about such details as that. ¢How¢ doesn¢t matter to me anymore. ¢Have to¢ is more of a concern for me and it¢s a relief to finally learn that. I have to make it and the how doesn¢t matter! I tell T-Funk, ¢Don¢t worry, be happy!¢ as he disappears into the fog. Wookie appears shortly after T-Funk left. Wookie appeared from behind the privy trail. We ask him how he¢d managed to get by us but he told us he¢d gotten lost and had to bushwhack his way there. He¢s soaking wet and cut up from all the branches hitting him in the face. I can¢t believe he didn¢t get completely lost. It¢s some stroke of luck that he found this place by walking through the forest in these low lying clouds.I start feeling an awkward silence coming between Jenn and Tree. It¢s time for me to leave. I¢m uncomfortable enjoying my instant milk around her now. I mean hexa-six carbons sound dangerous but I kept drinking it.T-Funk and Wookie were taking a break when I caught back up with them farther up the trail. They¢re eating the rest of their food. We catch two day hikers out in this horrible weather. T-Funk chatted the day hikers up in anticipation of getting a ride into Bethel at the trailhead below. We call this, ¢Away Games¢. It¢s when you work someone for a place to stay or car a ride. T-Funk fails miserably as we watch the day hikers jump into their car and drive away, leaving us in the pouring rain like suckers!Moonshine and Sideways laugh at our misfortune. I had complete confidence in T-Funk¢s abilities. I slowed down to allow him plenty of space to work his magic. Moonshine tells us that Strider and Michigan arrived earlier and are already at the hostel in Andover. I chat with Moonshine and Sideways while T-Funk flunks out at the road trying to hitchhike. T-Funk is leaning against his outstretched weapons¢¦I mean, hiking poles. He¢s also wearing a visor and you can¢t see his eyes. T-Funk¢s having a hard time, so I work the crowd of day hikers nearby.Two men we passed earlier are running down the trail to the parking lot. When the two runners get to me they take long sighs, synchronize their watches¢¦beep, beep, and give one another high fives. Before they could regain their senses they were offering to give us a ride to Bethel.¢Down that way!¢ as I point in the direction they¢re headed.They¢re still oxygen deprived so it works. I wave T-Funk over and the dark haired guy tells T-Funk he can¢t ride.¢Nope, we¢ve already got three!¢ the dark haired guy shouts!T-Funk shoots an eye at me like he¢s not happy. I wink at him and keep waving him over.¢No, you don¢t understand, they¢re with me¢¦(not the two girls)¢¦it¢s just us three smelly bearded guys.¢ I say. I point to Wookie, T-Funk, and myself. Haha.When the dark haired guy realizes he¢d been hoodwinked he resigns to his fate. When I¢d asked for the ride I was standing beside Sideways and Jenn. Now he¢s obligated but he doesn¢t really like it all that much. We have to put our seat belts on in the back seat the dark haired man informs us. It¢s a state law that no one can ride in the back of an SUV either they inform us.¢Shew, when¢s the last time you had a bath!?¢ quips the man we pile into the plush white leather seats of his Ford Expedition.¢5 days¢ says T-Funk¢6 days¢ says Wookie¢We smell like men! Men that walked here from Georgia!¢ I say. That always gets ¢umThe two day hikers are silent for a minute in the front seat. Their whole attitude began to change after they got that piece of information. They thought we were plain old bums, but we¢re bums with purpose! The two day hikers loosened up and started telling us about their adventures. They like to rock climb. They¢re from Massachusetts. Same old questions to us followed. The Expedition¢s book shelves had a weird selection of cosmopolitan magazines and books that must be on Oprah¢s list. They drop us off by the local trading post/general store before we get to Bethel.I heard the driver say ¢I¢m going to have to spray the truck out when we get home!¢ as they drove away.Wicked Awesome Whoopee pies are where it¢s at here in Maine! I had one chocolate and one maple pie that knocked my socks off. The maple one wasn¢t my favorite because it tasted like a pancake with whip cream. Ate a bag of cool ranch Doritos and got a new bottle. The old water bottle had to go it was developing sea monkeys that I couldn¢t rinse out. I notice a lot of dead animals hanging from the walls of the trading post. I saw the largest fox skin rug I¢ve ever seen. I didn¢t realize foxes grew that large. Maybe that was wolf? There¢s a snarling severed bear head above the drink cooler. Come to think of it, why didn¢t I take more pictures? It was wet and rainy and my camera is buried in waterproofing equipment.All I can think about is food. Wookie tells me if I hang out here they¢re going to take all my money. T-Funk, Wookie, and I sit at a counter while we charge our cell phones. T-Funk is eating something he¢ll regret later. The wife of the owner tries keeping us there with orange cherry tomatoes and hard boiled eggs. The wife of the owner lives next door behind the fishing equipment. T-Funk asks me if it¢s okay to eat yellow tomatoes. I choke on a whoopee pie laughing at him. This place is a trap and I need to get out!I flip through a rolodex photo album of all the dead creatures people have brought to this trading post. There are hundreds of pictures of deer, bear, and other native animal species represented. All of the photos include a metal clothes hanger, a weight scale, rotten smiles, camouflage and mustachios. Am I in Georgia again? What happened here?T-Funk and Wookie are skipping to Andover today. I¢m going back to Grafton Notch. They¢re on the other side of the street trying to hitchhike in the opposite direction. Wookie waves his hiking poles madly in the air to attract potential rides. I¢m confused by this technique. I haven¢t seen that one before.¢Acting like you¢re going to throw a spear at people isn¢t going to get you a ride!¢ I shout at them.The bugs are on my side of the highway. Huge black flies get in my face but they don¢t bite. I¢m swatting bugs with one hand and thumbing with the other. I¢m getting no love at all and it¢s starting to rain again. It¢s pouring but I¢m in Maine and I walked here and I just ate my first Whoopee pie and everything is gonna be alright! Lots of large 4X4¢s and Canadians drive past. I¢m feeling flutters in my heart from being so happy to be here finally!¢You¢re screwing up our hitchhiking!¢ shouts T-Funk and Wookie as they start walking towards Andover.Maybe I¢ll see them again. I hope.I do more fly swatting and smiling at French Canadians as they pass up the opportunity to give me a ride back to Grafton. Eventually a local has a change of heart, turns around and comes back to gives me a ride. There is a beautiful Brittney Spaniel puppy in the back seat. The Spaniel is trained to locate discarded moose antlers. They sell the antlers to tourists. The guy just bought a hunting cabin on property adjoining Grafton State park. He purchased 14 acres with a rustic shack for $2000! Amazing! I really enjoyed talking with the guy about the area here. It was the first time I wasn¢t looking forward to getting out of the car after hitchhiking.I get dropped off with only 2 miles of hiking to reach Baldpate lean-to. I¢m hiking up a 6 pack of PBR¢s in the hopes of seeing Conan and Backwards again. SuperMax ends up being the recipient of the trail magic instead. Conan and Backwards never show up.Fig tells Maine-ah stories in the awesome local dialect. We watched a ¢Hayah¢ (hare) eat grass and run around the shelter in the rain. There¢s a tricky little red squirrel around that knows the deal about humans and food. The red squirrel finds an apple core someone discarded and it¢s his dinner for the night.It¢s raining hard now. Getting foggy and cold but I¢m dry and gonna stay dry tonight! PBR¢s and ramen noodles for dinner!