Daniel's journal September 23-29

Wednesday  September 23
	
	I'm glad it is not raining this morning.  It sure is cold.  Suches 75
thermometer said it was 30 degrees.  I ate my breakfast in my tent.  Then I
made hot chocolate.
	On top of Spaulding Mountain, I took the Blue Blaze to the summit.  I had
an excellent view of Saddle Back.  It was very pretty.  The dew on the pine
needles was frozen solid.  Good thing I wasn't camped out on top last
night.
	I stopped at Caribou Valley Road.  The family was waiting there for Bear. 
He was bringing their mail drop.  It was lunchtime when Bear showed up.
	Bear agreed to take my pack to Stratton for me.  That way I could slack
the next 8 miles.  Skitz and Jesse slacked with me.  We went up and over
North and South Crocker Mountains.  We raced against the clock and had a
lot of fun!  We did 8.3 miles in 2 hours and 14 minutes.  We started at 1
p.m. and were in Stratton at 3:30 p.m.  That included a 5-mile hitch!  We
got a room at the Stratton Hostel.
	I saw Mt. Roamer and Yo-yo at the restaurant.  She decided to hike on
instead of staying at the hostel.
	For supper I had a roast beef sandwich.  After supper we went back to the
hostel.  The lady behind the desk said that the rest of the family had come
in.  We were very surprised!  They had not planned to come to Stratton.  I
went with them to the restaurant to help them celebrate their 6-month
anniversary on the trail.
	Skitz is caring a small rubber duck named Disco.  The Artist duck napped
Disco when Skitz slacked into town today.  She left a ransom note in the
hostel.  It read, 'Oh Skitzo, Owner of Disco.  We have your duck.  If you
want your duck back, you must deliver a gallon of chocolate milk to room 2.
 If you do not deliver the chocolate milk…. Poor duck!!"  Skitz had no idea
the family was in town.  He did not know who had his duck, but I did.  It
was hilarious to watch him trying to figure out who had his duck.  He
waited outside room 2 for a clue as to its occupants.  Appy Anne laughed
and that gave it away.  Skitz went to the store and got the chocolate milk
and delivered it to room 2.  Then he came back to the hostel.  The Artist
delivered Disco to the hostel.  (The hostel and room 2 were all part of the
same building.)  Then the rest of the family showed up and we sat around
drinking chocolate milk.  
		13.5 miles for today

Thursday September 24

	Skitz, the family and I ate breakfast at the hostel.  Then we all said
goodbye to Skitz.  He had to hike faster than what the family was planning
to hike so that he could meet his friend in Monson.
	I went to the post office.  Then hitched a ride back to the AT.  I walked
out of sight of the road and sat down to wait on the family.  I did not
have to wait long.  Someone had stopped at the hostel to see if anyone
needed a ride to the AT.  It was just what the family needed.
	11:00 AM and 5 miles to go.  We walked 1 mile and took a break.  We had a
nice view of the Bigelow Mountain Range.  A few miles farther and we came
to some large rocks. Time for another break.  We crawled over, through, and
under the rocks. Then we sat on top and ate lunch.  
	Time to conquer the mountain!  As we climbed, we got some very nice views!
 The leaves are such an awesome color!
	Just before Horn's Pond Lean to, there was another overlook.  You could
see the pond and the mountain in the background.  Beautiful picture!  We
sat and enjoyed it for awhile.  The Artist played the flute.  In these
mountains, it takes awhile for the beauty of nature to soak in.
	The shelter was nice.  There were two new ones in this area.  The family
claimed one for the night.
	After supper, I provided the dessert.  A jar of fluff, and a box of Graham
crackers, and Hershey Candy Bars.  We had a lot of fun eating Smores.
	During the night I got up.  As I walked outside, I glanced up to see if
there were any clouds.  No clouds, but the northern lights were showing. 
They were just white, but it looked like the forest was on fire.  I woke up
the family and they all came out to look at the lights.  It was the first
time they had ever seen anything like it.  They soon went back to their
sleeping bags, cause it was soooo cold.  I was hungry.  I pulled my
sleeping bag out of the shelter, and my stove, and I made hot chocolate. 
The Artist had a bag of chocolate chip cookies. We ate cookies and drank
hot chocolate and watched the lights.  About 1/2 hour later, the clouds
rolled in and covered the lights.  We went back to the shelter.
		5.1 miles for today

Friday, September 25

	This morning we hiked to the top of South Horn.  We took the blue blaze to
the North Horn.  From there we had and excellent view.
	We stopped on Avery Peak for lunch. We were able to see Mt. Katahdin!  Oh
yea!  Almost there.  179 miles to go!  We also got an excellent view of
Flagstaff Lake. And the leaves are in their peak!  So beautiful!!!
	We made it to Little Bigelow Shelter around 5pm.   I set up my tent.  Then
cooked supper.  Red Rock hiked in.  He passed out Reese pieces to all. 
Thanks Red Rock.  We asked if he was planning to stay in the shelter.  No
he said.  He would hike on to the road and sleep under the bridge.  Soon
Jerry and Captain showed up.  Black Jack made a fire and we sat around for
awhile.  Salt and Truly Blessed and the Honeymooners showed up for the
night.
	10.2 miles for today.

Saturday September 26

	1.5 miles to the road.  I looked for the bridge that Red Rock was planning
to sleep under.  It was a big culvert.  Good thing it did not rain last
night.  Must be Red Rock got to sleep under the stars.
	Bear was waiting for the family with their food drop.  They sorted through
their food and then we hiked on.  Bear said he would meet us in 2 miles in
case they had forgotten anything.  At the next road, Rosey said that her
feet hurt too much to keep on hiking.  They were swollen on top, just
behind the toes.  Suches 75 decided that Rosey should take a few days rest.
 Captain and Jerry showed up and informed us that Bear had taken Truly and
Salt to town to get some medicine for Truly.  Sport hiked the 2 miles back
with a message for Bear.  When Bear came back from town, he drove around to
where we were.  Rosey and Appy Anne went with him to Monson.  They stayed
at Shaw's Boarding House.
	At West Carry Pond we took a break and enjoyed the Pond.  Sport found some
boards and tied them together to make a raft.  Then he sat on it and
floated out into the pond.  When he sat on it, the water came up to his
waist.  We knew that East Carry Pond had a sandy beach, so we kept the
rope.  At East Carry we found 3 logs.  We tied them together with our rope
and Sport and I set out to sea.  We were riding in water up to our waist. 
The raft also rocked back and forth like a seesaw.  When 4x4 tried to climb
aboard, we capsized.  The water was cold.  I went for a swim and then got
out.  Wished the sun would be shining nice and warm.  The clouds have been
hiding the sun for several days now.  The sandy beach was so nice we sat
and enjoyed it for awhile.
	The Artist wanted to do a night hike so we walked slow and took our time. 
About 3 miles from the shelter we stopped and cooked up some Ramen noodles.
 Then we hiked the rest of the way in the dark.  We got to hear some
coyotes howl.  Kind of made the shivers go up and down my back. 
	Pierce Pond Lean-to was full, so I set up my tent by the pond.  Good thing
I did too.  About 2 a.m. it began to rain.
	17.3 miles today

Sunday September 27

	This morning it quit raining.  Good.  I packed up and headed for the
Kennebec River.  We all got there around 9:30.  Captain, Jerry, the Family,
Black Jack, the Honeymooners, and myself. The ferryman was ready for us. He
had us sigh a release form and then he hauled us across, two at a time.  I
heard that Mountain Roamer and Yo-yo had swam across the day before, so I
had to try it too.  I gave my pack to the ferryman and waded into the
water.  It took my breath away.  It was so cold.  The water was low, so the
current was slow.  A short swim and I was across.  Nothing to it. Later I
wished I would have tried to ford it.
	We all stopped at the Caratunk store and P.O.  Someone got the idea of
ordering pizza.  Great.  We had pizza for lunch.  Then we were to full to
hike, so we had to sit and wait for it to digest.
	I made it to the Pleasant Pond Lean-to by 3:45.  I spread out my things in
the shelter.  Grabbed my soap and headed to the pond for a swim.  I washed
up and rinsed off.  The swim did not last long.  Water was too cold.
	Back at the shelter the family had moved in.  We made supper and watched
the sky grow dark.  Soon it began to rain.  Then it poured.  Pea sized hail
came with it.  So did lightening and thunder.  Was it ever good to be in
the shelter! (Mt. Roamer told me later that the hail was the size of ice
cubes at the shelter 13 miles north where she was staying)  The storm did
not last long.  When things calmed down again, we heard a loon out on the
pond.  Cool sound.
	I read some stories about Elisha to the others in the shelter.  Then we
turned in for the night. 
	9.7 miles for today.

Monday September 28

	Another cloudy day.  We got a late start this morning, but we only had a
short day planed.  We climbed over Mt. Pleasant and got some excellent
views.   The leaves still are soooo pretty.  When I walk down the trail at
times it is like walking on red carpet.
	At Moxie Pond we stopped for lunch.  I put my tent out to dry.  The sun
was in and out of the clouds.
	There were two cables crossing the creek where we were eating lunch.  One
above the other.  They were used to cross when the water was high.  The
water was not high, but I had to try it anyway.  The cables were bouncy. 
It was quit easy to cross.  No problem.  Then I tried it with my pack on. 
That was more difficult.  My pack kept trying to pull me over backwards.  I
went out far enough to know that I could cross with my pack, then I turned
back.  Sport and 4x4 crossed over too.  They had fun.  The Artist tried it
too.  She was scared stiff, but she made it.  Oh yea!
	We stopped just short of the top of Moxie Bald Maintain.  There were some
cool cracks in the rocks that were begging us to explore.  Once we had
tried them all, we headed on.
	On top, I could see patches of sunshine all around.  But where I was it
was dark.  And I could see rain headed my way!  I put on my pack cover and
rain jacket and headed for the shelter.  The rain came and I got soaked. 
The rain did not last long.
	4:30 and we all made it to Moxie Bald Lean-to.  Sport built a nice fire. 
I changed into dry clothes and felt much better.
	After supper, we turned in for the night.  We dreamed of real food, cause
tomorrow we hit Monson!!
	13.1 miles for today.

Tuesday September 29

	Up early this morning.  6 am.  We are going to town today!
	I walked down to the pond and got a picture of the sunrise.  Beautiful. 
It is going to be a nice day!
	The walk today was very nice!!  The leaves added color.  The sun shone. 
The breeze blew lightly.  And the temperature was around 60 degrees. 
Excellent day for hiking!
	Most of the day the trail followed the creek.  Several places there were
small waterfalls, and deep pools.  We had to cross two creeks today.  The
book said we had to ford, but it was not bad.  Maine must not have had much
rain, because the creeks were low.  We could cross without getting our feet
wet or removing our boots.
	At one of the creeks we stopped for lunch.  After lunch, Sport, the
Artist, and I had a contest to see who could skip a stone the best.   It
was fun to watch the stones skip up the creek and hop on to the other side.
	It was 4pm and we were almost to Rt. 15.  I was in the lead and I heard
something crash through the bushes.  We stopped short, and watched an moose
disappear into the woods.  Cool.
	We got to RT 15 at 4:15pm.  While we were waiting for Suches and 4x4, a
pickup truck stopped.  The driver wondered if we needed a ride to town.  We
sure did and yup, he could wait till Suches came.  She showed up in 10
minutes.
	It turned out that our driver was Mr. Shaw from Shaw's boarding house. 
That is were we had planned to stay for the night.  The Honeymooners had
beat us to Shaw's place and told him that we were at RT 15, so he drove out
to get us.  Perfect.
It was great to see Rosey and Appy Anne again.  It was also good to see Mt.
Roamer and Yo-yo.  They had arrived at Shaw's the day before.  Since
Stratton, they had been hiking 1 day ahead of the Family and I.  
	Shaw showed us to our rooms and told us supper would be ready at 5:30.  I
changed clothes and threw my dirty ones into the washer.  Then I went to
see who else was around.  Nutbar and Misquito and Caterpillar.
	Caterpillar had started out several days ago.  He made it 4 miles into the
wilderness.  (4 miles north of Rt. 15)  He slipped on some wet slate, fell,
and broke his left ankle.  The Old Moose found him about an hour later.  He
helped him set up his tent.  This happened late afternoon.  The next day,
Moose hike out to a logging road.  A section hiker had told him where it
was.  Moose heard some machinery and went towards the sound.  Someone was
logging and he had a cell phone in the truck.  Moose called Shaw's and
Shaw's called the forest ranger.  The ranger drove out in his 4x4 and met
Moose on the road.  Caterpillar was close to a lake.  The ranger drove to
the lake, pulled the canoe from the back of his truck and floated across
the lake.  Loaded up Caterpillar and took him back to Shaw's.  Shaw's took
him to the doctor.  When I saw Caterpillar, I got to sign his cast.  He is
planning to go home in a few days.  He seemed to be in good spirits, but I
pitied him.  Stopped 111 miles short of doing a through hike.  And this was
his second try.  So sad.
	Our supper at Shaw's was ready at 5:45.  Ham, cabbage, potatoes, turnips,
carrots, bread.  It was all very good.  For dessert we had birthday cake. 
It was Appy Anne's birthday tomorrow.  She was so surprised!
After supper, The Artist found a piano at the local church.  She got
permission to use it and we had singspiration from 7:30 to 9 PM.  The time
just flew; we were having so much fun.  The Artist sure is good with a
piano.
	After the singspiration, we went back to Shaw's and watched a video.  The
video was Gospel Express Prison Ministries.  A very good singing video! 
Then we sat around and talked till way late.
	17.9 miles hiked today.
	





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