9-1-12

AT miles hiked today: 9.2
Miles to Katahdin: 90.2
Total AT miles hiked: 1213.3
Miles to complete my thruhike: 971.1

I'm in my tent after watching the moon rise over West Chairback Pond. We are camping here by the water because we heard there is no water at the Chairback Gap Lean-to. There was not water close to the Long Pond Stream Lean-to last night, and we didn't want to hike .4 off the trail to get the water at the shelter we passed, so we were short all day and we wanted water for tomorrow morning. Hey, maybe we'll see a moose here in the morning. No luck tonight, but I heard and saw a loon when we first got here around 5pm and I soaked my feet in the water. It was too cold to swim.

There was a cold breeze all day that I loved as long as I was hiking or in the sun. Otherwise, it was chilly. Memorial Cliffs on Third Mountain were pretty and had a great view of a lake. I didn't think the mountain climbs today were bad. I actually enjoyed them. Tomorrow we get our food bucket, but today I have a light food bag.

I love the 100 Mile Wilderness so far. It's beautiful. I do much better on these roots than I do on the rocks and I kind of even like the river fording, though I fear getting everything wet by falling. My crocs work fine for river crossings that require wading. The first time I forded a river I took off my socks and took out my insoles and still wore my shoes but I slipped around in the water and though my feet weren't squishy wet, my socks did get wet. So now I wear the crocs, slip about the same, and have dry shoes to wear on the other side.

I know we lucked out with this dry weather because the rivers are low. I read the shelter registers about people having a much scarier experience fording rivers during or after the rain.