8/24/01
The rain passed overnight with little fanfare, but it was foggy this morning when we left the Bemis Mtn. lean-to. The map profile showed a steep descent off Bemis Mtn. to Bemis stream, then a steady but moderate climb to Spruce Mtn. The profile was certainly accurate as I struggled on the descent with wet rocks and roots. At 7:30 a.m. it was still cloudy when I began hiking, but by 8:30 the clouds had blown out and it was a crystal clear blue sky to hike with. I took a nasty spill on a slick boulder on the way down Bemis and lost some flesh on my left hand on the fall. I got out the first aid kit, bandaged the hand and kept on trucking to the Bemis stream. The scenery was gorgeous and just got better as the day progressed. Our group mission was to hike to the Rangely, ME road crossing, then hitch the 9 miles into town for the night. Phantom had left the shelter at 7 a.m. as he had a mail pickup. Finn left me in the dust on the descent of Bemis. Redneck and I hiked much of the morning together and Priceless vacillated by passing us, then stopping, then passing us, etc. etc. etc. Finally there was an extensive stretch of easy trail to hike on and the miles clicked by. Priceless, Redneck and I snacked and lunched beside the shore of Long Pond and enjoyed the crisp breeze blowing over the lake in the warm sunshine. It was a perfect autumn like day and I kept hiking after lunch while Priceless and Redneck stopped at the Sabbath Day Pond lean-to for another break and to chat with Blueberry, a Nobo returning to the trail after a year. I hiked several miles well into the afternoon before Priceless caught up to me. Redneck had made the decision to stop short of Rangely at the Little Swift Pond campsite since he was watching his budget carefully.
As Priceless and I made our way down the trail to the road crossing, I stopped for a nature call. Before I could make it to the road crossing, Priceless called out my name, then announced that we had a ride into town. Talk about an easy hitch. Minutes later the two elderly women who had taken us to town pulled over at the ice cream shop where we unloaded our packs, then joined them in line for a large soft serve cone. Phantom and Finn were already in town and we saw them on the street, so the four of us linked up to find the Red Onion restaurant for dinner. On the way Priceless and I stopped at the Alpine Shop in hopes of solving our gear problems, but the pseudo outfitter couldn't help us. Dinner at the Red Onion was delicious, but our plan to stay at the owner's garage for the night didn't pan out like we thought it would. According to Wingfoot's Thru-hiker handbook, the owner lets thru-hikers stay in his garage for free. However, the restaurant informed us that they stopped doing that 10 years ago. Obviously Wingfoot's book needs an update. After dinner Phantom joined me at the ice cream shop for another round of ice cream. The four of us took turns making phone calls while we waited for the 9 p.m. movie (single screen theater). We saw the new Robert Deniro/Marlon Brando movie called "Score", which was enjoyable, especially since the theater was warm and the air outside was quite chilly. After the movie Priceless and I went to Sarge's Sports Pub and waited for Finn and Phantom to show up. They never came, so I went out into the town looking for them, unsuccessfully.
Finally Priceless and I went across the street to the ice cream shop. He and Finn had asked permission of the owner for the four of us to sleep in the back yard there on one of the town lakes. There we found Phantom and Finn sleeping out in the open under the stars, next to a picnic table. We layed out our bags for the night, then I suggested we go back to Sarge's for a nightcap. Finally around 1:30 Priceless and I returned to our lakefront quarters for some shut eye. Rangely is an absolutely beautiful little town, surrounded by gorgeous lakes. Our evening there was "Priceless" as we camped for free behind the little ice cream shop. It was nice to hit another trail town. We are quickly running out of town stops, with only three remaining before the 100 mile wilderness and Katahdin. I am ready for the journey to end and get back home, but don't want to rush through Maine since it is, in my opinion, the most beautiful state we've hiked through and it took SO long to get here. Here are today's stats: low 55, high 68. Cloudy to sunny and brisk. Today's mileage: 17.7; cumulative mileage; 1948.1.
