[at-l] One Year Ago Today

[art at crystalacresnh.com (Art Cloutman)]

Pokey and I got up early on October 20th, 2004 to watch the sunrise 
over  Lower Jo-Mary Lake from Antlers Campground in The Hundred Mile 
Wilderness.  It was very cold.  There was ice on my tarp and on 
Pokey's Hammock.  We stopped at Potaywadjo Spring Lean-to to check 
for messages from Kate and Burnie but the register had already been 
removed.  From the rocky shore of Pemadumcook Lake we spotted the 
Katahdin covered with a hood of snow.  Pokey went bezerk.  He was so 
excited.  It was such fun for me to witness his enthusiasm.  I was 
very concerned that the lake had been drawn down.  I hoped we would 
still be able to make it to White House Landing for my mail drop and 
a night's stay.  I was less concerned about snow on Katahdin because 
I figured it would melt by the time we reached Baxter State Park in 3 
days.

As it turned out Linda and Bill at White House landing were very 
surprised to find hikers still on the way north.  They provided us 
with a great lunch and dinner.  We found out that Kate and Burnie had 
called asking about us three days ago.  They were hoping we could 
join them at Rainbow's House in Rockport ME.  We would not make it on 
time to visit with them.    We ended the evening listening to the 7th 
game of ALSC playoff between the Yankees and the Red Sox.  There is a 
nice fire going in the wood stove.

Oct 21st, 2004,  We had a spectacular dinner at White House Landing 
and nice boat ride back to the trail.  It was very cold all day long 
so when we took breaks it was on the sunny side of a lake or stream 
to take advantage of the reflected sunlight.  We did a short day to 
Wadleigh Stream Lean-to.  We have been doing shorter mile days to 
better enjoy and drag out the end of our adventure.  Who wants to 
return to the rat race?  It was hard to prepare dinner this evening 
because of the cold.  We were in our sleepingbags keeping warm in the 
pitch black at 6:30 PM.
-- 

Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman