Date: 2008-09-03
From: South Arm Road, ME

To: Maine 17, ME
Miles today: 13.3

Another day of incredible hiking¢¦but hard hiking today. We were up anddownstairs for a final amazing breakfast by 7:30 a.m. Eating blueberrypancakes with fresh handpicked blueberries on top is now one of my favoritebreakfasts. Earl made us all the goodies we had yesterday morning, but he evenasked what, if anything, could he add or change for breakfast for hikers. Allof us (Banjo, Half Elvis, Free Will, and Karen) were like¢¦um¢¦this is soperfect.We paid up and had to leave the amazing place that now, we are considered alumniand can return to. So on a sensitive side issue here, Earl and Margie tookthemselves out of the guidebook because they are really tired, have beenrunning this place for 14 years. When I told Earl I was writing about theirplace on my journal, he had a bit of apprehension in his voice, because as muchas they love serving hikers (they are hikers too by the way), they are trying towind down their business. I don¢t know why exactly they chose to take Karen andI in, other than they are incredibly generous people, and I feel so fortunate tohave had this experience, but I also want to respect that they are ready for achange, so I thought it would only be appropriate for me to also share (on topof how wonderful they are) that they are not wanting any new business. On thisnote, however, they spoke of a desire to hand the operation over to other folks,but they just haven¢t found the right ¢fit¢ yet, so I figured it might not hurtfor me to mention this either¢¦they are on the web if anyone wants to contactthem.Earl gave Karen and I some advice on other places to stay and people to contactfor some questions we had further up the trail. I doubt they¢ll have the timeto read this entry, but from the bottom of my hear, thank you to Honey and Bearfor your incredible generosity and hospitality. Perhaps a day will come when Ican return this to you both.It¢s funny, when Karen and I woke up, I told her I had a long day ahead, andreally didn¢t want to be hanging out till 9, I wanted to get going. Well, thenduring breakfast, I was enjoying myself so much, socializing, drinking lots ofcoffee, guess what time I started hiking today? Freakin 9:57 a.m.!! Ugh¢¦I¢mso bad.I¢m having to get used to reading the topos for Maine, they are sort of a ¢bigletter version¢ compared to other states, so the lines often look like ahorrible climb is ahead, but it¢s a gradual climb. So this was only applicablefor about 1 mile today though. When a Maine topo shows a totally vertical line,you can pretty much plan on hiking straight up a mountainside, and there wasplenty of that this morning.Free Will, Half Elvis, and Banjo were still packing up when Karen and I left,but as I told them goodbye, I told them I was sure they¢d pass me¢¦.and asusual, I was right. Actually, they started hiking about 10-15 minutes afterme, but they DID have full packs and I had my slackpack¢¦.oh¢¦carrying my 3 lbsof magazines again, which I was hoping I¢d remember to drop off at Bemis Mtn.Lean-to.It was a 3 mile climb to the top of Old Blue. Most of it wasn¢t that bad untilthe last mile, in which I was sweating bullets and breathing like there was nooxygen in my entire body. Gosh, I just didn¢t think it would still be thishard to climb, especially with a slackpack, but it is for me. Half Elvis andFreeWill passed me early in the day, but it was in the middle of this climbthat Banjo caught up to me.I stopped to tighten my shoe, and she turned around and started talking. I wasdelightfully shocked that she started sharing with me that it hit her last niteat The Cabin, that this was all going to be over soon, and she had her firstmeltdown. I TOTALLY understood what she was talking about, because it hasalready happened to me too, so I told her my analogy of mourning the loss of aloved one with a terminal illness, and she really liked that psychological andemotional comparison. We talked for several minutes, and this was a specialmoment to me, because by the time hikers get to Maine (and really much soonerthan this) most of them have formed into groups of very close friends, so theystay within their groups. We just met 2 days ago, and I enjoyed having amoment of real-ness with her. We talked all the way up to the top of Old Blue,but I have to point out that she¢s one incredible hiker. She had a 40 lb packon her back, I was slackpacking, and she was zooming up that mountain while Iwas back there huffing and puffing trying to keep up with her. Cool to see astrong woman hiker like that. It¢s not too much of a surprise that I have abit harder time though, because in all sports I¢ve ever been involved with,I¢ve been good at endurance, but it always had to be at my own SLOW pace.As we came up to the top, Half Elvis was up there waiting for Banjo and he said,¢Wow, the moment you 2 got to the top, the sun came up!¢ Then he proceeded tosing, ¢You are My Sunshine¢ as we approached the summit. We all enjoyed abeautiful view, and Banjo gave me a piece of chocolate. We got some pictures,and I told them to go ahead. It was the hightest peak of the day, so I washoping the worst was over, but it was a typical Maine day of up and down and upand down and back up again.In this section, I¢ve seen the highest concentration of moose scat and tracksthan anywhere else on the trail. I¢m still crossing my fingers, but more andmore people are seeing them as of late.On my way down Old Blue, I met a flip flopper, Just Jill (WA). She was waycool, and had brought her 12 year old son through the 100 mile wilderness withher. She said he loved it way more than when he hiked with her in June in theSNP, which was boring to him. She told me there are white sandy beaches at afew of the ponds in the wilderness¢¦and that¢s SO exciting to me. I hope we getsome warmer weather when we¢re going through, because I¢d love to pull a nero oreven a zero out there and play on the beach all day.I also met a man named Michael, who has been hiking the AT on/off since the80¢s. He¢s from NJ, and he showed me some technology I¢d never seen before.It¢s called ¢SPOT¢ and it¢s a sort of personal transponder. You can buy thething from marine stores or other places for like $120.00 and then yousubscribe to their service. You carry it with you (it¢s about the size of apack of cigarettes..maybe a bit larger) and there¢s 3 buttons on it. One isfor ¢OK¢ one for ¢HELP¢ and one calls 911. It sends your signal to a satelliteand then whoever you add to your account will receive your message via textmessage on their cell phone and/or email. Here¢s the really cool thing. Inthe email message, there¢s a link that will take you to the exact coordinateson google maps! What a great safety device that I think would give incrediblepeace of mind to family members when us solo hikers are out here or anywherefor that matter. He told me there¢s no signal issues like with cell service,because it shoots right up to a satellite. I think it would be a goodinvestment personally, and had I known about this ahead of time, I probablywould have carried one if I¢d known I was going to be hiking almost entirelyalone.I also met Eric and Mary, two flip floppers from TX. Nice folks who are havinga blast taking their time, which I think is so wonderful. We talked about howending the hike somewhere other than Springer or Katahdin is just as wonderful,depending on your own mindset. Personally, I wanted my hike to end on Katahdinfrom day 1, and that has never changed, but many people don¢t have that desire.Water was a real issue today and has been for 2 days now. I can¢t believe, withall the rain Maine had (the canoe ferry across the Kenebec River was actuallyshut down for 4 days because the water was so high and dangerous!!), thatthere¢s a water shortage in the springs and streams here. I¢ve never heard ofthis before. I started the day off with 2 full liters, but sucked through oneby the first 3 miles getting up Old Blue. I hate rationing, but I was in thatposition with 10.3 miles to go and 1 liter to get me there.I descended Old Blue, which was steep in a few places, and headed towardsElephant Mtn. As usual, it was gorgeous. I can¢t say what it is about Mainethat is so much more appealing to me than other states, but it seems to haveeverything¢¦.incredible views, vasts spruce alpine forests, rivers, abovetreeline hiking, and crisp air. There¢s also pink moss in with the light greenmoss, which is very beautiful.Heading to the next climb, there¢s often boardwalks due to the muddy bogginessof this state. Well, I was zooming right along, and there was not a board, butif I¢d been paying attention I would have noticed roots to step on and I didn¢tuse them. Suddenly, my right foot goes straight down into this thick muddyquicksand stuff and within seconds it¢s up to my right ankle! Amazing stuffreally. I had to slowly pull my foot out because I feared I¢d lose my shoe init, but luckily I didn¢t. I took this hilarious picture of my right and leftshoes. My right foot looks camouflaged because it blends in the with dirt andmud so well.Today was a psychological challenge for me because I knew it was over 13 milesand it was late in the afternoon by the time I got half-way, but I had to keepreminding myself I didn¢t start hiking till 10 a.m., which is 2 hours laterthan I normally start. Still, it messes with my head because I feel like I¢mgoing super slow when I¢m not.I climbed Elephant Mtn., which was hardly a mountain at all, and then it was 1.5miles up Bemis Mtn. I¢d been told by Michael that there were 2 clear waterareas that one was not running and the other was just a drip. I did stop andfill my other liter with the drippy one, but really didn¢t want to have todrink it. I¢d dropped my pack and followed the water back into the woods tosee if it was running stronger anywhere else, but it wasn¢t, so it was an ifysort of water source. Other hikers had warned me a few days back there was nowater in this section.I got to the top of Bemis Mtn. and enjoyed a spectactular view of thesurrounding mountains and several lakes. Wow, Maine is so gorgeous folks, andhow lucky am I to be seeing it for the first time by hiking in her mountains?I took some pics, and at the tops of many mountains it¢s just rocky slabsyou¢re on, so it¢s flat rock, but would be very slick if it were raining.Today was so gorgeous, high¢s in the low 70¢s, breeze, sunny again. I knowsome chances of rain are coming this weekend, but I absolutely can¢tcomplain¢¦the weather has been perfect everyday in this state. I cross myfingers it¢s like this in the Whites for others hiking there right now.I had originally told Karen I¢d be at Maine 17 between 5:30-7:00, and I¢musually able to tell within 10 minutes, but couldn¢t because I can¢t seem topredict my pace that well with slackpacking. I did realize, it was not goingto be 5:30, because I got down to Bemis Mtn. Lean-to at 4:07 p.m. and still had4.5 miles to go¢¦ugh. It was funny though, as I came down the 100 yard sidetrail, I heard applause. It was Banjo! LOL They were there with a guy namedNew York Minute, but they¢d been there for like 40 minutes, cooked a meal andeverything. Damn¢¦how do people hike so fast?First thing¢s first¢¦unload those freakin magazines!!! They all left in a fewminutes, but I actually decided to eat my lunch¢¦I know a bit late. When I getreal food (like at The Cabin) several days in a row, it really keeps me fuller,so I didn¢t get that hungry today, and really wasn¢t that hungry now, but I wasgetting shaky and new I¢d better eat. I scarfed it down, watered the leaves,and headed out again by 4:17 p.m.There are 4 peaks to Bemis Mtn., the main one, then 3 more (not so creativelynamed) third, second, and first peaks. I headed to second peak and got a cellsignal. I called Karen to tell her it would be closer to 6:30 p.m. She is SOamazing. She found us a room at the Town and Lake Motel in Rangeley, right ONRangeley Lake with free kayaks and canoes!!!!! I told her I was a littlestressed from the late start today, because it was going to be so late when Igot in, still had to journal (which folks, sometimes takes me more than an hourplus I type up the captions to all of the pics I take every evening before Iforget where they were taken) and then tomorrow is another 13 mile day that Ihave to start earlier. So Karen, who had been kayaking all around and out tothis island in the lake, goes, ¢Well, you don¢t HAVE to hike tomorrow, becauseI¢d really love to play in the water with you.¢ Oh¢¦oh¢¦ew¢¦.twist my arm!!Granted, I hadn¢t ¢planned¢ on taking a zero this soon again, but the weatheris perfect, we¢re on this beautiful lake with free kayaking and today kicked myass¢¦.so now I¢m stoked because I can relax a bit and look forward to having somefun on the water tomorrow. I told her I¢d be at Maine 17 around 6:30 and I gotmoving again.I still had about 3.1 miles to go, all down except the last mile. I could seeMaine 17 in the distance and each time I came up to a peak it was a littlecloser. I was pretty exhausted though, but it was a relief that I didn¢t haveto worry about setting up camp. I started down the STEEP (as in straight down)descent off Bemis Mtn., and this was a 2 mile drop. Oh this is the worst at theend of the day. Your muscles are fatigued, I get clumsy and start rolling myankles when I get this tired, and you have to use a lot more muscle controlgoing down than up. Up just requires power and strength, which come in time,but down requires full body muscle control so gravity doesn¢t send you hurlingdown the mountainside.Oh, today was the day of the grouse though. I saw 3 or 4 of them, and theyusually wait till you¢re right there and then suddenly fly away and scare theshit out of you. All but one just kept clucking around. One of them waslaying in the middle of the trail sunbathing! Those birds make me laugh forsome reason. I got a few pics even.I finally got down this huge descent and just before Bemis Stream, there was atent city of thru-hikers camping at this great spot. Banjo and Half Elvis werethere, as were 5 friends of theirs they¢d been hiking with on and off the wholetime, Hot Tang and Long Shot were 2 of them but I don¢t know who else wasthere. I walked over and said hello, but this other group (who came past meyesterday as I was waiting in the stream by South Arm Road) is verystand-offish. Even yesterday when I said hello to them and asked their names,3 of them totally ignored me, and the 2 women reluctantly told me their names.No different tonight, so I snapped a picture because it was Hubba, Big Agnes,Tarptent land and it was a cool scene, and I turned around and hiked away. Atthe last minute, Banjo yelled my name and ran up to me. She gave me a huge hugand I told her I didn¢t really know if I¢d see her again, because they areplanning a summit date of 9.20. She said she really hoped we¢d see each other,and she goes, ¢I¢d really like to have an evening like this with you to talk toyou, because it sounds like you¢ve had a totally different experience out herethan I have.¢ I told her I¢d love to hook up and spend some timehiking/camping. Oh, here¢s the crazy deal, last year, while at her job (arestaurant at the time) Uncle Tom was at her restaurant and this was rightafter he summitted, and there were other thru-hikers at her restaurant so theygot her and she met and became friends with Uncle Tom! I was like, ¢Hey!! Iknow and hike with his wife¢¦Auntie Mame and her sister V8!!!¢ Small smallworld huh?I really appreciated Banjo¢s sincerity and I told her I was planning on tryingto head up a women¢s hiking/camping trip each year with all the awesome womenI¢ve met out here, and that she was totally invited. Unfortunate I won¢t getto chance to know Banjo better, but there¢s always email after the trail. Ifyou read this Banjo, thanks for your realness. It meant a lot to me.So I was off, the sun was getting lower and it was starting to get very darkunder the canopy of the woods. I hiked across Bemis Stream, which is flowinggreat, and then 2 dried up river beds. Then it was the climb from hell up toMaine 17. Almost 1 mile straight up. I met another college orientation groupfrom Harvard. Up and up, straight up. Sweat just pouring off me like rain,heavy and hard breathing, but I just wanted to get there and was reallycrossing my finger Karen brought some drinks. Yes, I could have stopped andgotten water at Bemis Stream, but I didn¢t want to stop now. I was out ofwater though, so was pretty thirsty.I just pushed this last section out, it was 6:42 p.m when I climbed to the road,and Karen was sitting there with the car door open and a cooler of drinks and apiece of Strawberry Rhubarb pie waiting for me. I am so spoiled I swear. Shecould hear my breathing the last few feet up this straight up climb and saw mepop up and was like, ¢Wow!!! That looks so hard!¢ I just sat on the guardrailcatching my breath and chugging water like there was no tomorrow.Then we turned around and witness perhaps the most beautiful sunset either of ushave ever seen. There¢s a lake to the right, mountains to the left and allbehind for layers and layers and this bright sun with a few clouds in the moststrategic place that caused the colors to be so pinkish, redish, orangish,purpleish. It was so amazing. I got some amazing pictures of it, but willadmit, the best pics that I uploaded of it were what Karen took on her camera,which is a better camera than mine for this type of picture.I was freezing as the temps were dropping, it was breezy and I was sweat soaked,so I grabbed a blanket and we just stood there and watched it. We couldn¢t tearourselves away from the beauty.Finally, we headed into town though, it¢s only a 15-20 minute drive and we gotto this great (but old) little motel. It¢s not the fanciest or most well keptplace, but here¢s the other MAJOR bonus in my opinion¢¦the owners have thisgreat cat that makes itself at home in your room if you let it. I don¢t knowthe cat¢s name yet, but she moved right in, and I was loving every minute ofit. CAT THERAPY!!!! She hopped onto the bed, layed down as if to say,¢Welcome to my home human visitors!¢ Karen and I drove to The Club house, theonly place in town that was open, so I could get some dinner. I met Daisy, anawesome guy from Australia, and we all sat at the bar and talked for a bit,until the karaoke people started. So, there were maybe 25 people in this giantbar, but the band had the music up loud enough so that people in Alaska couldhear it. I couldn¢t handle it¢¦being out in the serenity of the forest all day,on mountaintops, only hearing the whisking of the breeze, the grouse peckingaround, the (one) stream flowing¢¦and then suddenly being in this environmentwith the loudest (REALLY BAD) singers I¢d heard in a long time. I told Karen Ineeded to go, and she totally understood.We took our steak salads back to the room and kitty visitor was waiting for us.She was suddenly so attentive when food came into the picture. So adorable¢¦.Igot her standing on her back legs straight up taking a tiny morsel of foot frommy hand. Yup¢¦got pics and all.So it was a very hard day of hiking. Oh, Daisy said he saw a moose on the nextsection I¢m doing in 2 days. I¢m pretty beat, but am really excited aboutplaying on the lake tomorrow. Gotta finish watching Gandhi and get somezzzz¢s. 233.1 miles to go folks.~Certain