[at-l] Maine AT gossip

[Snodrog5 at aol.com (Snodrog5@aol.com)]

Howdy,
 The AT hiker numbers seem down for this time of year, if you don't count the 
Camp Kieve-type groups of 20+. Our own at-ler Chainsaw is on the trail in 
Maine, saw his register entries at Abol Bridge and Rainbow Stream. Warren Doyle 
also signed at Abol Bridge, saying he was working on his 15th & 16th section 
hikes. Joining The Solemates and Shadowman as recent AT finishers are; Shooting 
Star finishing up a 19 year section hike, the clog wearing Dutchboy Posse were 
the 7th thru 10th to finish, Little Tree, Peanut and Pickle, the Jersey Boys, 
and Trog (?) followed. I met Cliffdancer who flipped up to Katahdin from 
Front Royal and summited the 11th, nice guy with a great attitude. Southbounder 
Shane "Flamingo" got off the trail after Nesuntabunt, I found him hitchhiking 
the wrong way on a logging road with a swollen knee wrapped in an Ace bandage. I 
drove him out to a gatehouse where he got a ride out to Rte 11. Old Keith 
Shaw is looking good, the Caratunk House has re-opened, and the Katahdin General 
Store has closed.
  There was a bear in Katahdin Stream Campground wuffing around site #10 over 
the weekend, spooking campers and amusing the Rangers. Moose, pine martens, 
and deer are pretty common at KSC, a bear sighting is rather rare.
  Remember the human remains just recently found by two young AT hikers at 
Baxter? They were found at the gravel pit on the road leading into the Park, 
where Minute Man Taxi drops off hikers who get to the Park too late to get in. 
The young men tented back in the woods out of sight, and found the jaw bone in 
the middle of the road the next morning after breaking camp. The remains have 
since been identified, and a family in Bangor has their loved one back. 
 Is it "Woman's work"? Did you know all the AT site caretakers in Maine are 
female type human beans? Even at the AMC's Speck Pond, where the delightful and 
hardworking Toad shows off her axe wound with a big smile.
 And a very Happy Birthday to SloeToe, who's celebrating in the best of all 
ways by backpacking with his children away up North.
 TJ