9/02/01
Winter returned to the AT last night. This morning felt like March as I tossed and turned with aching hips (the normal scenario). I kept waiting for the sun to warm my tent, but no such luck. Finally at 8:40 I had enough and got my butt in gear despite the temperature at or near freezing. Phantom and Finn were equally as cold and we all moved fast to pack up and start hiking to warm up. The trail was easy and we hiked a fast pace past the west branch of the Piscataquis River to the Horseshoe Canyon lean-to. By late morning we reached the east branch of the Piscataquis River, which under normal climate conditions would require us to ford to get across. It was a nice spot for lunch, so we dropped our packs accordingly. After we ate, someone suggested that we add some rocks to the path across the river. Yolo had joined us for lunch, so the four of us began building a rock footbridge across the river. It took a solid hour of work, but we had a blast creating a new direct path across the river. Hopefully the 150 lb. rocks that Finn moved, along with the smaller rocks we supported the foundation with, will hold when higher water returns during the spring snow melt. From the river we hiked 6 1/2 miles to the Monson road crossing. Along the way we passed beautiful Lake Hebron's west end before facing an easy 600' climb, only the second significant climb of the entire day. Just before reaching the road we saw our first Maine moose. He wasn't moving, though. In fact, there wasn't anything left of him but a pile of bones. The fellas were analyzing the bones and even considered reconstructing the moose, but the last trail town was calling our name, so we moved on.
Just before reaching the road we encountered a man walking slowly toward us. He stopped us to talk, then told us that he is Desperado. Finally we meet. Desperado is a trail legend, having performed countless acts of trail magic for 30 years on the AT. Back in NJ we first encountered his trail magic this year, with sodas and cookies in the shelter bear boxes there, and water put out by him for the hikers at road crossings. Desperado led us to the parking area at the road crossing, where he gave us each a soda and a snack. We talked for 30 minutes or more in the parking lot before Mr. Shaw of Shaw's Boarding House and Hiker Hostel showed up in his car. We soon piled in and were driven to Monson to the hostel. Keith and Pat Shaw have been taking care of hikers since 1977 and over 33,000 hikers have stayed at the hostel over the years. We checked into the bunkhouse which was a large room filed with single beds on the second floor of the main house. Desperado followed us to the house and we toasted him as today was his 58th birthday. We wasted no time getting showers and firing up a load of laundry. The Shaws had picked up my mail for me at the PO, so I went through my two food boxes and organized the food for the hundred mile wilderness section of the trail. I then made a quick visit to the general store down the street for some supplies before returning in time for dinner. The Shaws provide AYCE dinners and breakfasts for their guests for an additional charge. All of the Fab 5 sat down, along with other guest at the 5:30 dinner call. We were fed roast chicken and meatloaf, vegetables, peas, potatoes, bread and dessert (all we could eat) served family style. After three plates of food I was satisfied and retired to the TV room for awhile. Then I resumed organizing my pack for the final section of the adventure before finding my bunk for the night. Tomorrow is our last zero mile day, so I wanted to get organized tonight so that I can catch up on 6 days journaling tomorrow. Here are today's stats: low 32, high 68. Sunny. Today's mileage: 13.9; cumulative mileage: 2053.6.
