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Aug 13: Baker Peak, Noon Report
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I am sitting up on a rock peak with a fine view West eating lunch. I got an early start so I am about halfway done my hike already. The entire morning I have been going over my experience at Bronly Mtn. And decided not to wait to jot all of the details down. I wanted to write now while my mind is fresh and alert rather than preparing for sleep.
As I said yesterday, the sunset was great. The 3 of us returned to the hut to wait for darkness and hopefully some shooting stars. Well, just as I finished my journal, 2 trucks came driving up the mountain, one of which was filled with 12 year old kids. We collectively moaned at the thought of these little bundles of joy running around all night, especially when we found out that they were camping out on top of the observations platform. Our worries were all for not, however, since once their initial excitement faded, they were just about the best behaved group of kids that I have encountered.
Around 9:30, the 3 of us climbed the tower and while the group had taken up most of the platform with tents, they gladly made room for us. For just over ½ hour, they asked us questions about the trail in between ooh’s and aah’s for the passing meteors. By this point, we were cold and our necks hurt so we opted to lie down on the ground, which turned out to be a good decision. Several bright meteors with long tails went whizzing by while the three of us talked about everything from Blair Witch to ancient people looking at the same sky we were. Unfortunately, our bodies would not allow us to stay up until midnight, the peak of the shower, though we felt we had seen enough.
I woke up this morning and exclaimed loudly “OH SHIT”! waking up both Duct Tape and Drive-By. My use of this explicative was intensified by the fact that when I woke up, what little bit of the horizon I could see was as if on fire. I was afraid that I had woken up just minutes too late for the sunrise. We ran outside, I with camera in one hand, windbreaker in the other. The Eastern horizon was full of brilliant colors, with the centerpiece being a large orange flume of light. We assumed this to be the sun, partially concealed by clouds and haze. I quickly discovered this not to be the case as directly below the orange flume appeared a hot red spot in the clouds, only to be followed by the top of the sun itself, lifting itself on over some mountain range in New Hampshire.
This day at Bromly Mountain was absolutely incredible, and while I snapped many pictures, none of them could come close to capturing this experience. For example, my camera got all the sunrise on the eastern horizon, but it could not get the white wispy clouds overhead or the purple haze to the West still colored by the rising sun.
This night/morning was second only to my time on Max Patch. And more importantly, New Jersey is no longer in my top 3 nights on the trail. I sit here now, watching the view clog up with clouds and fog. A Southbounder told me of rain forecast for the whole weekend. Its amazing to think how lucky my timing was to provide such an excellent experience. Life is too good.
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Aug 13: Greenwall Shelter
Miles Today : 21.6 Miles to Katahdin : 508.2 |
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Today was my first 20 mile day in quite a while, and man did it hurt! Well, if I was rewarded yesterday with such a great experience, I was punished today. Almost as soon as I started hiking, the clouds moved in and rain threatened all day.
The trail jumped up and down over a few ridges, passing by two very beautiful ponds along the way. Griffith Lake was a large pond at around 2000 feet and Little Rock Pond, while smaller, looked great for swimming. Unfortunately, the day didn’t lend itself to swimming, or sightseeing for that matter. Just as DB and I got to the Little Lost Pond Shelter, an older southbounder, Diesel, showed up. Turns out that he lives in DB’s college town, Wooster, OH. While they were playing the “ Do you know – “ game, Diesel shared a cigar with me. He is hiking the whole trail with his two sons, very cool.
With just 5 miles to go, the rain started to fall lightly and my body started to shut down. When it wasn’t raining, the air was so thick that I sweat profusely, so much that I felt I was swimming in my own sweat. Yeah, it sounds gross because it WAS gross. Well, we made it here, and no sooner did we cook and get setup then the rain really started to come down. Well, I guess something went right today, we got in the shelter before the deluge started.
Here at the shelter there is a Southbounder, Duck, who is sick, and Wideload, a northbounder who jumped ahead to finish Katahdin. Wideload is what Papa Squa would call a “Specialized Unit”. I last saw him in Fontana Dam, and this guy is a wack job. First, he won’t shut up or stop complaining about his feet, or gear etc…. He really has no clue about hiking STILL after walking 1000 miles. He just told us that he goes to Rainbow Gatherings, so that explained a lot. Oh well, he is a slow hiker so I’ll just dust him off tomorrow. Well, I am very tired, and I have written way too much today, good night.
-Chomp
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