Miles: 16.0
Today started early, with the first "zip" and rustling from our campsite-mates waking me at 5 am. Got up around 5:15 and after friendly chit-chat with the two guys that joined us last night, we were out of camp and on the trail at 6:30.
The trail was beautiful this morning - the air was crisp, the sun was shining and my knee wasn't aching. Only bad thing was the bugs were out and ferocious. I think last night's heavy downpour hatched a lot of them. But 3 out of 4 ain't bad and I was in a great mood.
The two guys - Mike (Highlander) and Terry (Sod Buster) - left a few minutes after us and hiked a tad bit faster. So, we were trading places on the Trail all morning. During one "trade-off" when Kevin and I passed them while they were breaking, they stopped us and pointed out a huge bull moose drinking out of the pond. It saw us, I think, but it continued to just stand there. Now I understand why our taxi driver a week ago said that they were extremely dumb - they are. After it posed there a bit for our pictures, we moved on.
We moved pretty well and didn't stop as often as we had been, due mainly to the easy terrain. The afternoon doldrums set in and I sang "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" (got down to 42!) and BINGO a couple of times - in my head, of course. Kevin would have pushed me off the nearest cliff if I had been singing out loud.
The trail got difficult as we passed Crawford Pond and started climbing Little Boardman Mountain. "Little" - yeah, right! I popped in a couple of Advil and kept on truckin'. However, I'm worried about my knee tomorrow as we do White Cap Mountain. Just as my knees and feet were starting to get unbearable (found out that "Vitamin I" doesn't work to relieve the foot pain), we pulled into East Branch lean-to. We figured Mike and Terry were way ahead of us by now and had gone onto Logan Branch, 3.6 miles up the Trail (all uphill!). We took a break, chatted with a friendly couple that was sitting here, got some water (brown beaver water - ick!) and then were planning to head out when - lo and behold - Mike and Terry showed up! So, we decided to stay. Also looks as if Cheech and Chong (Kevin's nickname for the two remaining New Jersey guys) aren't going to make it in tonight - Double Bonus. So, we had a pleasant dinner with Mike and Terry - chatted about their previous jobs, families, etc. Just generally really enjoyed their company. I'm glad we stayed.
So, it's been a long, but extremely pleasant (surprisingly!) day.
- Sleepy Bobo