[at-l] Shakedown Hike :O)

[Snodrog5@aol.com]

 Hiyas!
 Back from the North Woods, did a gear shakedown for my next AT section hike. 
I was treated to some swell small plane rides, from Manchester, NH to 
Greenville, ME then by floatplane up west of Portage. Dan Folsom can land a 
plane in a puddle, and did so as he dropped supplies for some Wardens at an 
itty bitty place called MacLean Lake. He buzzed it first, to check for Moose! 
He told me hitting a Moose would kill us, and probably irritate the Moose. 
:O) The wardens had just sent a "wolf-dog" carcass to Augusta. They said by 
looking at the feet they could tell it was a domestic release.
 Over four nights I only hiked 28 miles, all along snowmobile trails and old 
tote roads, tallest hill was only 1700 feet. But it was gear I was playing 
with, so mileage wasn't important. I saw several Moose, some with big velvet 
covered antlers, lots of birds and small critters, no coyotes or deer. Some 
bugs, not very bad, and two humans. And the Stars! It was the dark of the 
moon, in Northern Maine, so you can imagine what the night sky was like :O)
 My EMS2500 was light and easy on my back, and carried 30 pounds of gear (not 
counting water). I really like my LLBean Knife Edge boots, (the 
gortex/all-leather kind), Z-rest was handy for a dry place to sit, and was a 
fine replacement for my old Therm-a-rest. I did the Aqua-Pure and Esbit 
thing, leaving the PURHiker and Sierra Zip and Whisperlite at home. I liked 
the Esbit, did fine with rice, soup, and oatmeal. The AquaPure was fine for 
drinking if you added cool-aid. I filtered out the debris first with cloth 
screening (from a tent repair kit) held onto my water (soda) bottle with a 
rubberband. I used a borrowed Kelty Dart 2 - wicked nice tent! Slept in a 
Camp-Mor silk bag liner inside a homemade flannel bag. Fine for 50 degree 
nights. I might buy that tent, even if it did weigh 3 1/2 pounds. 
 Nice trip, and Mother Nature provided glorious fireworks around 9 on July 
4th.
TJ
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