The Sterling Inn serves a very nice continental breakfast at six thirty, so we were on trail by seven thirty. It was quite cold this morning, just at freezing and the air was full of mist. The trail out was full of rocks and roots and I managed to catch a foot and took a fall. I've had falls several times this last week. Each time I somehow manage to try and stop the fall using mainly my left hiking pole, which of course means my left arm takes the shock. I've hurt it pretty bad as a large portion of my weight ends up being supported, even if only briefly. My left elbow is a bit swollen and I've got a pretty bad bruise on the inside of the upper arm. Today's fall only aggravated it and I landed on the point of my shoulder. My left knee also hit a rock going down and is quite sore this evening.
But the day warmed up and was sunny, and the sky is clear tonight. We're down in the trees, so I don't think we'll get to see the lunar eclipse even if we are able to stay awake that long, which we aren't.
We pulled over here at three, after fifteen miles. We thought about going over the next mountain today, but that would put us into the shelter at six, right at dark, and it gets hard to see the roots well before then. We don't want to trip and injure ourselves at this late date. So we stopped here. As we were cooking dinner, Jade and Mike showed up. A bit later, Antwerp, Pfunk and Baloo stopped also. So we had a campfire and a good time. There's a lunar eclipse tonight, hopefully we can stay up and see it.
9/28/15 - Lakeshore House, Monson ME
We didn't see the eclipse. I fell asleep about seven, when I woke up for a bathroom break it was already midnight. There was just a tiny slice taken out of the full moon and I could see the eclipse had already occurred.
The temp last night was warmer than expected. I had to remove layers and open my sleeping bag to cool off. This morning was chilly, but not like the morning in Caratunk. We warned up fast climbing out of camp, the trail was up smooth rock. It was as if we were walking up a dome coveted in moss and trees except for the foot and a half where the trail was located. Near the top we started hitting roots and bogs. Pleasant Pond Mountain has some open areas, and Bald Mountain is fairly open due to a forest fire in the early 1900s and the views from both were great today.
Normally you have to ford Baker Stream just south of Moxie Pond, but due to the dry summer we were able to cross on dry rocks. They haven't been dry long, they were covered with dry pond moss and were probably quite slick just a couple of weeks ago. We had our water shoes ready as our guidebook had warned us of possible fords today. Joe's Hole Brook was a thirty yard section of deep mud bogs. It took time, but we managed to cross stepping carefully on barely visible rocks, the occasionally firm mud area and logs and branches that other hikers had thrown across the wet sections.
We stopped for a snack break at Bald Mountain Pond Lean-to on the north shore of the pond. It's a shelter like all the rest, but they call them lean-tos up here. Looking out over the large pond, lake really, with a loon calling in the early morning sun, you think you're out in true wilderness. A fisherman's powerboat coming around an island slightly spoiled the illusion.
We had sections of trail that were like sidewalks covered in spruce needles, so nice to walk on, our pace picked up. Before long though, we hit our first real ford at the west branch of the Piscataquis River. It normally runs fast and waist deep, so the Maine trail club has attached a ¾ inch woven nylon rope across it to hold onto. Today it was shin deep, but the bottom was slick and the water cold enough to make our feet hurt after just a few steps. It was only about forty feet across though, we spent more time take our shoes off and putting them back on than we did forcing. It was a good stop for lunch too.
The trail runs next to the river after crossing and follows it east, so the trail was very rooty and rocky. We made good time but you get a workout trying to step carefully and don't get to watch the changing river much. Still there were some picturesque spots. After a few miles the trail veers a bit north and crosses the east branch upstream of the joining of the two branches. The east branch is slower in flow and usually knee high. We were able to cross it carefully on dry rocks. Then it was back to the roots and rocks. The guidebook showed the elevation grade as nearly flat, the scale concealed the horrid roller coaster of reality. By the time we reached the intersection of the trail at Lake Hebron, the sun was low and we were beat. The trail used to follow the north shore of the lake right into Monson but I guess that required a road walk north out of town, so it was rerouted north east from the lake to the road crossing three miles north of town. We decided it was too late in the day to finish the last three miles to the road crossing, and took the old trail to the edge of town. The hostel picked us up, gave us the town tour on the five minute trip and showed us to our rooms. We had intentionally pushed to town to avoid approaching rain tomorrow, now instead of nine miles of rain hiking we have only three miles. We'll get a leisurely start after a town breakfast at the diner next to the hostel and still be back before the worst is forecast to arrive.
There are several hikers here in addition to Antwerp and Pfunk. Mike and Jade are camped out in the three mile section to save money, TMI has been zeroeing here in preparation for the 100 Mile Wilderness, Treebeard and Fox are here, as is Pringles, and I ran into Boot Scoot and Spaceman who I haven't seen since Delaware Water Gap. Sleeps In had to go home, her classes at pharmacy school started before she could finish.
My feet, for that matter my body, are beat up pretty well. I tried to sleep early, but between the pain and the excitement of being less than 120 miles from finishing the Trail, I had to get up and take a pain pill. I've only had to do that one other time on the trip, down in Pennsylvania. Usually ibuprofen is sufficient but the roots and rocks on today's 18.7 miles required Vicoden. Still, I know that I didn't lose my trail legs during the week of slackpacking.
9/29/15 - Monson
Despite wanting to sleep on this morning, and having spent an hour up waiting on the Vicodin to kick in at 2am, I was still awake at five in the morning. So I rolled out about six and headed next door to Pete's for breakfast. Then Mac and Pace and I were taken up to the ME15 trailhead by Pringles. We hiked back south to the Lake Hebron parking lot, then walked the mile and a half back into town. The rest of the day we lazed around visiting with other hikers as folks got into town. With the weather now forecast to drop up to five inches of rain tonight and tomorrow, the town is filling up. I'll spend tomorrow filling my resupply bucket and packing.
9/30/15 - Monson Zero Day
There were a couple of hikers up late last night that left the TV turned on. Fortunately it was tuned to the DVD player so there was just a blue light in the common area. I fixed it when I got up and found there is a Tropical Storm headed up the east coast this week! This trip ending is looking jinxed!
I sorted through my stuff and packed four days of food into my bag and another four days into my drop bucket. Rebekah, the owner of Lakeshore, will have her driver leave it in a 'secret' location in the woods off Kokadjo-B Pond Road about 51 trail miles from ME15. I'll get there, weather permitting on the morning of my fifth day out. It will be the first morning after White Cap Mountain.
Miss Janet picked us up at Lakeshore House and drove us through the rain to Shaw's for supper. REI is giving a free chili supper there to film a video about Pony Tail Paul and other trail angels. Tonight they sponsored a free chili dinner at Shaw's to honor Pony Tail Paul, an angel here in the Monson area. T3x, Peaches, Baltimore Jack, Scout and Tumbles, Waldo, TMI, Mac and Pace, Shane and Akela, Mike and Jade, and several others got filmed eating. The crew chief Julian says the video will probably be up sometime in November.
Downhill, Toasty, Scout and Tumbles, Mike and Jade, TMI, Akela, Tilt, Mac and Pace, and I had a discussion on tomorrow's hike. There is a flood warning tonight until 9pm, and a flood watch until sometime tomorrow morning. The first fifteen miles out of Monson includes four fords, one of which is possibly dangerous. So we have an option of walking north from Monson with packs, slacking fifteen miles south to Monson, or slack north the second fifteen miles out of Monson. The slack options would have us back at Lakeshore for tomorrow night, with the second section costing an extra forty dollars due to distance. The safest option is to zero another day, but we all have finish fever and several people have already purchased plane tickets home. I'm torn. I want off this trail, but I don't want to risk serious injury. I suspect the one ford will be close to waist deep and very cold tomorrow morning. We could slack it and start a fire if needed maybe, but who knows until we get out there.
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