I'm trying to filter water before leaving the lake while a chipmunk is industriously in the spruce tree over my head dropping pine cones. Most of them are going in the water but one narrowly misses my head in the process.
Walking up the trail from the lake I can hear a loon warbling from across the water. They sound so cool and the sound is quintessentially Maine.
The trail meanders up and down but mostly up for the next two miles, but the ascent isn't very bad; it's only 800 ft which is very tame for New England. I stop to eat a snack at clearing for power lines and Expendable catches up to me.
I ask him about the process for getting into Baxter State Park. He tells me about spending the night at the Golden Road and then getting up early the next morning because the first 12 people to register at the park ranger station near the road will be the ones who are allowed to stay at the Hunt Trail shelter, which is the start of the hike up Katahdin.
Expendable is going to try to do 15 miles today, because he wants to get done and go home. We say goodbye and I wish him a good finish to his journey,, then I get going as well.
The next two miles is more of the same md ridge walking. You go up a little bit then you go down a little bit then up a little bit then down a little bit. My mind wanders and I start thinking about how it would be awesome to have my under quilt with me. It's going to turn really cold here really quickly, and while the heavier sleeping pad does give me a little more warmth, it's just not the same as having an under quilt.
I check my cell phone service and see that I have a couple of bars of 4G so I call and ask Mom to go to my house and get my under quilt. She is agreeable and will ship it to the motel where Dad will be staying in Bingham next week. I think that I will carry my lightweight under quilt and a lightweight sleeping pad. It's a weight penalty but I will be nice and cozy and warm and still have the opportunity to sleep in a shelter if the weather gets hairy.
I'm looking for a game trails, which is one of the things that I think is fun when I'm hiking through the woods. Of course in this area I'm looking for moose trails. They're fairly easy to spot because there's usually several large piles of scat and it's easy to see where the vegetation has been trod down by their large feet. I come across a huge amount of scat on the side of the trail. This section of trail is like a super highway for the moose. I look on the map to see if there's a nearby pond because they'll go to the pond at night and then come back into the woods to bed down for the day
Five miles after leaving the shelter and 1,000 ft of climbing later I arrived at Little Swift River Pond Campsite; a beautiful and expansive campsite on the shore of Little Swift River Pond. Near the pond is a pipe spring that is barely dribbling, so I don't bother getting water but I sit down to eat a snack and see a large green resident frog in the mud under the pipe. The sun is sparkling on the water of the lake and a nice breeze is blowing.
I visit the privy after I eat and find a journal inside. People have seen moose and bear at this location a couple weeks ago. I am still looking for "charismatic magnifauna" (per Steven Rinella), but nothing has appeared other than a very nice looking buck still in velvet that I scared up earlier today.
Leaving the pond, the trail is really easy for the next few miles. The sun is shining and with the stiff breeze the temperature is very comfortable in the mid-60s.
I make it to South Pond by noon and stop to filter another half-liter of water. Across the pond I can see Saddleback Mountain in the distance, where I will be tomorrow. It's BIG! Saddleback rises from the ground to dominate the landscape and looks so daunting from this perspective. Ugh! I can't even think about how hard it will be right now. I just have to concentrate on the ground underneath my feet.
For the next however two miles I can forget about tomorrow and be thankful for the easy ground. The trail is rather nondescript; it's just a really beautiful walk in the woods with the weather today being so temperate. Leaves are falling and chipmunks are busy gathering food for the upcoming winter.
One mile before the descent to the road, the trail passes by a beautiful view of Saddleback Mountain, which looks even more daunting from this angle, but the trail quickly takes my mind off tomorrow, once again.
From here the trail descends sharply, on a lot of uneven rock steps and loose dirt. The spruce needles make the hike a little treacherous in places. I step carefully and take my time, especially because my knees are getting sore, and soon I am at Route 4.
Dad is waiting for me in the parking lot and we head into town, where I have a motel room booked. It's so early that I will have time to shower and do laundry before we go to dinner.
I get cleaned up and we go have a big salad with grilled salmon. When I return to the room I pack as much as I can so we can get an early start in the morning.
Today's Stats: 9.4 miles, 1,404 feet gain
Trail Stats: 1,977 miles, 407K
Miles to Katahdin: 217
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