Date: 2008-09-23
From: Stealth site to trail to Cloud Pond Lean-to, ME

To: Stealth site on side trail to West Chairback Pond,
Miles today: 5.2
Weather: clear sky

Brrrr! Cold freakin nite. It got down into the low 30's last nite, my thermometer read 34 @ 6:30 a.m. I stayed warm for the most part though, even without a sleeping pad, which I didn't bring. Later on, we found out this nite was record breaking cold temps for this area, according to the local weather channel. This stealth site is awesome in that we are right against a huge rock face and it is so quiet it almost bothers you. We were camping over spongy mossy ground that had lots of dead trees and weak places in the ground that your foot sometimes went thru, like the dead marshes in the Lord of the Rings. The rock face insulated and protected us but there was a cold clamminess coming up from the ground. It was eerily beautiful. We were awake @ first light, and up by 6 a.m. Oh how I hate changing clothes in cold weather. Worst part of it all really. We were hiking by 8:15 a.m. and knew it would be a challenging day terrain wise. The descent from Barren Mtn. was pretty steep in places, reminescent of parts of the Whites. It was also quite cool all morning. It was a 1.5 mile descent and then you hike across Fourth Mtn. Bog where there should have been 400 moose, but there wasn't of course. It was a steep 1 mile climb up Fourth Mtn. Today was a tough day for Incessant, who is on day #4 into building some trail legs. She is feeling the fatigue much sooner in the day, so we took it easy. See, if you hike fatigued, you start getting clumsy, and then possibly injured, and we don't want that to happen. She's a trooper....let me tell ya. I can't imagine tackling some of these straight down and up rock scrambles we had today on my 4th day on the trail. I could only pull off what..4.9 miles my first day, and the only climb that day was a fairly easy .9 up Springer Mtn. I'm so proud of her. It was cool enough today for me to wear my long sleeved shirt and rain jacket most of the day. It was beautiful again though, perfectly clear blue sky, sunny, just very cool.There was barely a view from the top of Fourth Mtn., so we headed down and boy what a down it was. Again, much like the Whites...not really hiking, but stepping straight down rocky slabs, butt scooting, etc. It just didn't last as long as in the Whites. About halfway down, we stopped for lunch and I found a great rock in the sun. Still cool though, and we so enjoyed sitting for awhile in the pine forest. Incessant said it made her feel like we were Frodo and Sam from Lord of the Rings. We headed on around 1 p.m. and it's an immediate climb again up Third Mtn. Another .5 up, then down and "flat" for .5 then a fairly steep and rocky up agin for .5 mile, but to an incredible view. It was afternoon, so the sun was so warm, Long Pond was below, the trees are starting to turn, surrounded by mountains. There was a rocky cliff, and I plopped down for a sunning break and Incessant ate a snack. Wow, I wished it could stay that warm tonight too. You hike about 1 mile of little ups and downs, then start down about .8 towards West Pond side trail, where there was water. We didn't know if we'd stop here or go on, but Incessant's legs were spent and I wanted to camp around this area since it was lower elevation (temps) and there is a bog...maybe a good spot to site a moose (yeah right)? Incessant went thru a mini day of every emotion that a thru hiker has @ the beginning: doubt, fear, fatigue, anger, self-loathing, envy of others who this is easier for--you name it....there were even a few tears. On the downhill from Fourth Mtn. today, she also hyper-extended her right knee a bit. She was stepping down with her left leg and it was a bit further down than she judged, so her right knee folded under her and it did not exactly feel great. We¢ll have to monitor this, because I¢ve done this before (in the Whites) and I had knee pain on the top of my knee for quite awhile. Throughout the day, we had stopped 3 times to discuss how far to go versus how far we needed to go so I could make it to Kathy by noon tomorrow. We decided to stop @ this pond side trail, because Incessant had just had it for the day and experienced the frustration we all do at times of facing unknown trail conditions, which you still have to hike thru no matter what. And she knew Columbus Mtn. at the end of the day was too much, and I absolutely respected that, because I remember how it felt to be so exausted in the beginning, and I did the math, and knew a 1.5 mph pace would get me to Kathy in time tomorrow, so we stopped. We took the side trail and .1 up, found a perfect spot, near a bog, nice trees to hang. We got camp set up, made dinner, and then we built a fire! Man did that feel good. I wished I could funnel heat from it in to my hammock. While we at our fire, about 8 hikers came by to camp down @ the pond, some were Brahma Bull, Sundance, and others I can't remember. Incessant was amazed @ the #'s of nite hikers out. It's more than I've seen too, but the days are so much shorter this late in the year. Tomorrow we meet Kathy Preble with our next food drop. Not sure wherewe'll end up, but we'll see. ~Certain