Date: 2015-08-03
From: Carl A Newhall Lean-to

To: Approximately Mile 2133 Before Jo-Mary Rd
Miles today: 22.4

My knee was not any worse when I woke up. Just a little sore. So I felt more optimistic. I set out and climbed up Gulf Hagas Mountain, West Peak and Hay Mountain. Unhinged and Cliffhanger passed me early. The excitement was for White Cap Mountain which is supposed to be our first opportunity to glimpse Mt Katahdin on a clear day. I passed by Walkie Talkie nightingale who flip flopped and a snoring hiker in a hammock. It was super windy on top of White Cap and a beautiful day but still hazy in the distance. I descended a little till it was less windy and sat down for a snack and wait for Wookie. Honestly, I was not 100% sure which peak was Mt Katahdin since I always thought it was by itself but others thought it was the big peak. Scooby and Murphy's Law walked by and said Wookie was 50 ft up the hill eating with Ever Ready. I had my shoes off airing out my feet so I just waited. Ever Ready came by and then Wookie. We descended White Cap and after yesterday's steep tough descents, this one was surprisingly not that bad. Still a descent but not as painful on my knee as I feared it would be. We stopped at the Logan Lean-to so I could get water. Scooby, ML, and a couple women section hikers were there. Wookie and I left and had a few amazingly fast miles! The terrain wasn't too bad and we could move at a 2-2.5 mph pace again! It's been so long. My knee was feeling better and I flew until I caught up to Ever Ready who had found some blueberries so we grazed for a bit. I self diagnosed my knee issue all morning and have concluded it was a seized muscle or cramp. It was hard to tell since it was so close to my knee I wasn't sure If I had tweaked something in yesterday's many climbs and steep descents. Since it didn't swell or feel worse this morning, I drank a lot more water this morning. It was sore but seemed to feel better after a few miles and as the day progressed. We thought we had to ford the Pleasant River but we didn't have to take our shoes off. So we climbed up a bit until we found a log to sit on for a snack. Unfortunately I discovered I set my pack adjacent to moose droppings and a few balls may have touched my pack. Ugh!We hiked up Little Boardman Mountain. More blueberries near the summit! We picked up our food drop. In Monson, Lakeshore offers a food drop service where for $25, they give you a 5 lb bucket and you can put half your 100 mile wilderness food in it and pick it up around half way so you don't have to carry all of it out of Monson. Wookie and I split it and it was nice to not have as heavy a pack. We stopped at Crawford Pond which was beautiful with clear water and a sandy white beach. We rinsed off in the water and cooked dinner. It was awesome and would have been a perfect spot to camp if it weren't so early and ... a group of loud teenage boys section hiking the 100 mile Wilderness descended on the beach. Fortunately we were getting ready to leave anyway. It was 5 pm and we decided to see how many more miles we could get in. Refreshed, we hiked a pleasantly flattish trail at a good pace, passing the lean to. The plan was to start looking for tenting spots after 7 pm. But there weren't any to be found. Finally around 7:30 we came upon a stream and there was a campsite next to it! We set up our tents just as we started to hear thunder. Soon after it started thundering above us and rained. By then we were tucked away in our tents Another amazing hiking day in Maine! And I think my knee issue is gone.