8/23/01
There were more big mountains to climb today, so we got a fairly early start this morning, leaving the Hall Mtn. lean-to. I slept well last night, but heard some large footsteps nearby in the middle of the night, which I can only assume was a moose strolling through the campsite. We have seen thousands of moose pellets and tracks along the trail since entering Maine, but so far haven't seen Bullwinkle. The trail descended steeply after leaving the lean-to this morning. I slipped and tripped a couple of times on the steep rocks on the way down to Sawyer Notch, but safely made it to the bottom. All five of us stopped at the road crossing at the bottom of the notch and reloaded on water at the brook next to the road. Next we climbed steeply on rugged trail up to the top of Moody Mtn., then descended right back down to Black Brook notch where we stopped and lounged in the sunshine next to the road. We entertained ourselves by throwing rocks at the "hiker crossing" sign (boys will be boys!) for awhile before I finally decided it was time to face the mountain (Old Blue, that is). The initial 750' of the 2000' climb started as another steep climb, but soon it became moderate and enjoyable, compared to many of the big climbs we have faced since entering the Whites in NH. I stopped and ate lunch at the top of Old Blue. I was already pretty tired from the trail beating me up, but still had to go over Elephant Mtn. and Bemis Mtn. The afternoon hiking was all easy to moderate over Elephant and Bemis. The trail smells so good in Maine, like walking through a Christmas tree farm through the entire state. We all arrived within an hour of each other (the Fab 5) at the Bemis Mtn. lean-to where we were all more than happy to stop for the night. The water situation at the shelter was not very good, so I managed to get by with what I had carried, without having to filter from the muddy puddle. With rain forecasted overnight, all five of us piled into the shelter for the night. By 8:45 everyone was asleep, except Phantom, who was journaling like me. Soon we both turned out our lights and I listened to the radio for awhile as the rain began beating on the roof of the shelter. The trail was tough today, but the end of the big steep climbs and descents is in sight once we get to Stratton. Today's stats: low 49, high 72. Sunny to cloudy. Today's mileage: 12.8; cumulative mileage: 1930.4.
