Date: 2014-08-09
From: Tom Leonard Shelter

To: Upper Goose Pond Cabin
Miles today: 21.1
Weather: clear sky

I woke up at 5:20, thought about making some noise to pay back our young hikers from last night. I guess that I am just too nice of a guy and I slipped out of camp by 6:30 with No Rush right behind me. I didn't take any of the water with me, I will get some better water on the trail. It was another nice cool morning and we continue to see ponds along the trail. The Ledges had a little bit of a rock walk but not too bad. About a mile from the first shelter of the day I heard something crashing in the woods and saw a nice sized adult bear running up a hill. I had just remarked to No Rush that we hadn't seen any large animals lately like bears or deer. Bears are just like Trail Magic, when you least expect it there it is. It was my first bear sighting since Virginia. We both took a break at the Mt. Wilcox South Shelter and ate an early lunch. The deck boards of the shelter were all gnawed up by a porcupine and there was a small snake in the shelter as we ate lunch. The shelters earlier in the week had a moat seperating the front from the sleeping area and we were told that it was to keep the porcupines from chewing the floors up. Some critters are looking for hikers boots and clothes because of the salt built up from sweat, so you have to be careful where you leave your stuff at night. They may be gone in the morning. Puzzle saw a porcupine at the shelter this morning before daylight. We are meeting lots of SOBO hikers now, it must be the early bubble that started the first part of June going south from Maine. I talked with Fire Squirrel, Dandelion, Tall Milk, and Bad Weather traveling together. The SOBO's seem so happy with their hikes and are too darned perky. We NOBO's probably act cranky and look like beat down dogs because we have been out here two months longer hiking. Massachusetts has lots of sreams and also lots of muddy areas on the trail. There are bog bridges through the worst places. I better get used to it because Vermont and Maine have the same thing. I had to climb up Baldy Mountain in the afternoon about a 1000 mile climb. It will be good practice for Mt. Greylock in a couple days, the highest point in Massachusetts. I was wanting to get to the cabin but the miles were slow today. I made it by 5:30, a 21 mile day. The cabin sits on a large pond but looks more like a lake. I'm guessing the depth of the water determines wether or not it is a lake or a pond. There is also a channel connecting the pond to another larger pond. The cabin has two stories and is painted a dark red to make it stand out in the woods. The bunks are upstairs and I am the 2nd one in for the night. I was pushing it because I was afraid that it would fill up early on a Saturday night, anybody can stay here and it is pretty close to a road. I went down to the dock and got in the water to wash off a little bit. It would be a couple more days before I could get a shower. We were fixing dinner later when we had a little bit of drama. A 89 year old woman was at the cabin with her daughter and grand daughter for the week and was having some health issues. They were friends of the caretaker Henry and were inquiring about the possibility of getting the elderly lady somewhere for medical treatment. Since Puzzle is a paramedic and emergency room nurse he made some suggestions that she should get to town and not wait until this evening when things could get worse. We had to put her in a rocking chair and 4 hikers carried her down to the dock to put her in a boat. The boat took her to the other side of the larger pond where the ambulance took her to the hospital. Things settled down later and the bunks started filling up. Sas, Smug, Sweat as a Peach, Puzzle, No Rush, and some section hikers were iin the bunkhouse along with the Mailman. There was a beautiful full moon over the pond this evening and I got some great pictures to put on Trail Journals. When we go to bed we act like we are the Walton family from the tv show and exchange good nights from our bunks. Good night John Boy, good night Mary Ellen and so forth ring through the bunkhouse.