Sept 28

With Moxie

That fearless mouse from last night managed to chew a hole in the side of my food bag.  Fortunately, it didn't ruin much of my food.  I broke of a piece of my nibbled on Snickers bar, and ate the rest of it with breakfast.  The League were all up early, and we left camp around 8:30am, to cooler temperatures and some clouds.  We immediately started climbing up Moxie Bald Mountain, gaining about 1300 feet.  Near the summit, the trees began to grow much shorter.  At the top, we had totally unobstructed views.  Our group paused here for a bit to take pictures and shoot video clips.  Lakes were all around us in the valleys below.  We watched the morning fog slowly lifting in the low lands, burning off in the morning sun.  We headed down from the mountain and arrived at the Moxie Bald lean-to for a snack.  Moose called in the woods around us.  The next 10 miles were absolutely flat, and a joy to hike.  Along the way, I walked on top of a beaver dam to cross Bald Mountain Stream.  We came to a stop at the West Branch of the Piscataquis River at 1:30pm.  Up to this point it hadn't occurred to me that I haven't eaten lunch yet; the enjoyable hiking this morning had kept my mind distracted, lost in thought, walking through the woods.  We sat on the shore and ate lunch in the sun.  I cooked up a couple packets of ramen noodles that have been in the bottom of my food bag for some time.  The ford across the river was particularly wide, and about knee deep.  A rope stretched across the water, tied off to trees on each bank, to aid you as you went across.  Rainbow didn't want to stop yet, grabbed the line, and headed across to the other bank.  We learned a valuable lesson here, for midway across the ford, he leaned a little to hard on the rope, and the slack in the line caused him, and his pack, to dip into the cold water.  I guess if the water was higher, and flowing more swiftly, the rope could help you from being swept downstream.  But unless that's the case, don't use the rope.  He sat on the opposite shore, drying his gear and shoes in the sun.  The rest of us made our way across, and headed down the trail, parallel to the river for several miles.  There was more beautiful hiking along the way, the colors of fall all around.  The river became more and more narrow as we walked upstream.  We stopped for a break at Horseshoe Canyon lean-to.  At the bottom of the steep ravine below, the stream formed into rapids, pools, and cascades.  Rainbow showed up just behind us, having given up on drying out his stuff.  The sun had given way to clouds.  It would have been easy to call it a day here, but I think he just wanted to push on to get closer to town.  We came to another crossing of the Piscataquis, this time the East Branch.  The ford here was much easier.  Trying to pronounce this river has provided a bit of comic relief today.  Just up the embankment on the other side, a local man had set up a campsite, and was handing out sodas to hikers passing through.  That was one great tasting Mt Dew, that's for sure.  Over the next few miles, the trail criss-crossed several roads in the woods, as darkness began to fall.  The trail was very well blazed on this section, so I didn't have any trouble despite the web of dirt roads and the deteriorating viability.  I managed a 3mph pace all the way to an intersection where a sign marked a side trail that led into Monson, Maine.  Being dark now, we didn't like the idea of heading down the trail, getting a ride into town, and finding a place to stay.  We all set up for the night in a flat, grassy area nearby.  The temperature was falling quickly.  We stayed up until about 9pm, cooking dinner and talking around a small campfire, after a big 19 mile day.  We were interrupted frequently by noises in the forest - moose, loons, and another call we thought might have been a coyote.  Rain began to fall, and we scurried into our tents.  Today had been such a great snapshot of what the trail is like in Maine.  Rocky and exposed mountain summits; streams, ponds, and lakes; beaver dams and river fords; brilliant colors of fall.  With all this beauty, it's easy to forget that with one misstep, your mindset out here on the trail can change on you in an instant.  Rainbow's experience today can attest to that.  At least we'll be in town tomorrow, so we can take a break and get warm and dry.

Old Tomato reminds us to practice safe river fording.