Date: 2007-07-17
From: sandy beach

To: Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to
Miles today: 9.8
Weather: scattered clouds

mi. 9.8dest. Potaywadjo Spring Lean-tosleep. hammockDay 5Well I made it most of the night. I awoke in the middle of the night to th fireout, which we put a lot of wood on, and my top quilt pretty damp. I was alittle cold too. It was probibly close to 50 degrees out. I looked over andChristan and Bre were asleep curled up in a ball looking pretty cold. I woke upBre and told her it was time for them to go back to their tent. I know I waspretty cold and shivering a little going back to my hammock.After I got in and warmed right back up and went to bed. I woke up around 6-ishbut decided to go back to bed. It felt really good to sleep in after staying uplate and eating a lot.Last night I sat down and figured up my food and mileage again. I think I gotenough to make it out in 6 more days. Still going my slower pace. Btw it is116.5 ish miles from mt. katadin to Monson. I definitly didn't plan for theextra day. Even though I know I read that a bunch of times.I was also trying to figure out if I wanted to go to White house landingtomorrow. It is a small camp about a mile off the at. You go to shore and blowa horn and they come over and get you. The original plan was to get an early start and make it there for lunch thatends at 2. Well that didn't happen. I woke up slow and packed up slow. Christen and Bre said something about sitting on the beach drinking coffee. Icouldn't pass that up. I made some and we chated some more. I was thinkingabout another quick swim. It was really warm. Definitly the warmest I haveseen since I got here. Probibly only in the high 70's though. But it feltgreat in the sun. In my mind I was picturing a relaxing swim in a mountainlake. When I got in believe it or not, it was still a bolmmy 50 degrees. Wellafter a really short swim I got out and finished my coffee. It did feel prettyrelaxing though.I finally got underway at 10 or so. Right away I caught up with thissouthbounder by the name of Clay. I had actually run into him at katadin streamin the rangers office. He had a crazy big pack and gatiar on it. He was alsonot dressed in the typical hiker gear. He had on some cotton stuff. This mustbe who I heard others talking about a couple days before.He was actually a pretty cool guy. He is from Idaho and did 5 years of collegetowards in english degree. He travels around a lot. Usually by hitch hiking orfreight trains. I could tell this guy had some stories to tell. He said heplanned on 10 mile days but couldn't do it with his pack weight. It looked allof 60+ lbs., not to mention he said he was eating canned food. He said one ofthe things he had against him is that he is not used to carrying his gear. Ithink he will drop a few things when he can. The most interesting part is hesaid he only has $120 to his name. He is planning on finding a job in trailtowns when he runs out and earning enough to make it a little farther. He saidhe is thinking it will take him 8 or 9 months to make it this way. That has tobe an adventure.I passed a group of northbounders who where taking it really slow through thelast part of their hike. I even saw 4 of them using hennessy hammocks. Finallypeople who don't look at me like I am strange. They also commented on mygearskin pack, something most people do, the crazy thing is one of them knewabout it. They said white house landing was well worth it. I also got theadvice to pack out a pizza for dinner.So I stepped up the pace and headed south. I wanted to make it by dinner thatstarts at 5pm. The hiking was really easy today. Not many hills or too muchbugs, mudd, rocks, or roots. They were still out in parts. But I definitly sawa lot of flatish trail covered in pine needles or dry dirt. Hiking that with alite-ish pack, full stomach, and full nights rest felt like I was hiking backhome.The miles went by and now I am sitting on a picnic table at white house landingright on a huge lake waiting on dinner. The at companion book saysit is 1.2miles off the trail and the sign they put up said 1 mile. But when I waswalking it felt a lot longer. I think being hungrey had something to do withit.cont. at end of the dayWell I was sitting there for a few minutes when i heard the horn go off. Incase anyone is wondering the horn is really loud. Hold it away from your headwhen you use it. It is really noticable at thre camp too. After a few minutesthe guy left and came back with none other than Christan and Bre. We all laughand say something to the affect of fancy seeing you here.We set around and slept for a good 2 hours until it was dinner time. That initself felt really good. It is in a really good spot with a beutiful lake.They have a rope hammock setup inbetween two trees. I let Bre claim that one. She looked like she could use some good sleep.I decided to get one of there famous 1 pound burgers, a soda, and a 14" pizza topack out the leftovers for later. The burger was great. After that and onpiece of pizza I was stuffed. I ended up giving my chips to Bre. I don't carefor them and think she neded it more.The woman, can't remember her name for the life of me, was really nice.A word of advice for people stopping here. I really enjoyed it. But the womenowner is definitly nicer than the guy. The guy was nice enough, but she was atleast more talkative. Also don't bow the horn more than once. They reallydon't like that. There are multiple signs to that effect and that was the wordfrom the northbounders I passed.I wanted to add some food. They have a smal selection of food. Nothing toomuch. There prices were not too bad. You have to consider where they are andhow much it takes to get it there. I ended up buying a jar of peanut butterafter hearing them talk about it the night before. I also bought the last thingof DEET. Lucked out with that one. It is the great 100% stuff. My bill cameto $37. Which considering wasn't that bad. The deet along was worth its weightin gold.They were trying to decide whether or not to bail there why they had the chance. There is going to be a few roads in the next few days that they could bail attoo. The woman owner was really good in talking to them and offering help andsuggestions. Really not seeing where the bad wrap comes in the cyber hikingcircles.They decided to go on. The next shelter was only a 3 miles away.Another word to people who are going to stop there. The guy that drops you ofreally wants to do it after you eat. You could tell he was geting impatientwhen everyone else was talking. Really though, what else does he have to do.