Day 16 - Tuesday, June 28

Linda

Got moving around 7:30 today. We started out with Richard, and Ray was about 30 minutes behind. We left him lamenting his ingrown toenail, and the fact that he hadn't killed the snowshoe hare that was hanging about the lean-to the night before. We made the steep climb to West Peak, then down and up again to The Horns. We could see for miles again, since the sun was out. It was a little hazy, but still had a good view. Walked the half mile straight down to The Horns Pond Lean-tos. Must be a real popular spot. There was a huge walled platform tent, two lean-tos and a dishwashing area. Real nice, but looked over-used. Talked to a couple from Vermont who were hiking for several days. Ray came in just as we were leaving. He was doing okay, but hadn't decided if he was going into Stratton. It was 5.7 miles to Route 27 from there, mostly downhill. We figured we'd make that by 2:00, then go on a few miles to camp.

We went down a couple miles of pretty rough terrain, then came to a nice boggy area that the trail actually went around! What a novel idea! We passed a small lake with a beaver nest in the middle. We stopped so I could take a picture, and while I walked around to get a good angle, Ronald and Richard started looking around. Piled under some branches, they discovered our jackpot for the day - bags and bags of food. We couldn't believe it! There were cans of beef stew, Spam, ravioli, beans, boxes of powdered milk, instant potatoes, chocolate milk, tubs of butter, drink mixes, even bread flour and baking powder. Whoever left it hadn't hidden it very well and there was so much of it, we couldn't figure out what kind of group it was. The package labels were in French - so French Canadian, maybe? Whoever they were, they had cut down trees all over to built lean-tos and bough beds, and generally trashed the area. It was a mess! However, there was no evidence of any equipment, or activity, so the camp seemed abandoned.

We immediately called it lunch time, and figured that any group with so little regard for their surroundings deserved to have their cache raided. We dug into the Spam and Wonder bread on the spot - two foods that I wouldn't have gone near at home - but out here they tasted like gourmet fare. We all carried as many items as we could stuff in our packs and still walk. When we went on, we left a pyramid of food and a note for Ray in the middle of the trail. We figured it was obvious enough he couldn't miss it. Just hope he doesn't trip over it with his ingrown toe.

The trail went downhill from there, but the temperature was beastly, and the sun beat down relentlessly. We were wasted by the time we got to Hwy. 27. The only saving grace was the abundance of streams along the trail. At each stream we would grab a drink of water, then drench our bandannas to wipe down sweaty faces and necks, and cool down a bit before going on. A soaking wet bandanna left draped around a neck was almost bone dry within a few minutes. It was hard to imagine too much sunshine after so many days of wet, soggy rain, but this was awful!

We dragged ourselves up a ways to a stream, then Ronald scouted up the hill to find a campsite. He found a flat spot next to another stream, so we limped up there and collapsed. It was 3:00, and we talked about going into Stratton to get some ice cream, but after we downed a half gallon of chocolate milk, courtesy of our unknown French Canadian benefactors, we decided we could survive without it. About 5:30 we pulled out the stoves and cooked up veritable smorgasbord of canned delicacies, then topped it off with Jiffy Pop. It was a very eclectic dinner, to say the least, but an interesting change from our normal boring fare. We set the remaining cans by the trail for some other hiker to discover and enjoy.

We sat around and talked until dark before setting the alarm for 4:30 and going to bed. Richard is a great guy. He's a helicopter pilot, just recently out of the Army, and now finishing college. He's planned his hiking schedule around having to leave the trail once a month for Reserves. Now he's worried about making it to Gorham in time to get back. His wife Barbara is not into backpacking, but I guess since he's been planning this trip for 5 years, she has to be understanding. We never did see Ray tonight - guess he must have gone into Stratton. He was having some more trouble with his ingrown toenail. We had hoped he would meet us here tonight to share our feast with us.

Ron

The miles today were poor. I'm not sure why, but we felt exhausted after only a few miles. The trail was good with only a few climbs. For most of the day we hiked downhill. The trail conditions today were good. The last two days of sunshine seem to have dried out many of the wet zones.

About two thirds way down the mountain we found someone's food cache located next to a beaver pond. The area around the cache had been pretty trashed. Whoever was there had chopped down trees to build shelters with pine boughs. In the cache we found cans of stew, several cans of ravioli, tubs of butter, boxes of powered milk, spam and a few other goodies. This is not your typical backpackers' fare.

After pondering a while, we decided to take what we needed and leave the rest. The place was trashed and it didn't appear that whoever left the food would return. We left a pile of cans for and a note in the middle of the trail for Ray. Since he has not caught up with us tonight, I don't know if he got the food. For dinner to night we had a nice meal of stew, ravioli, beans and popcorn. Tomorrow we hope to get going around six to avoid hiking through the heat of the day. I think it was the heat that did us in today. It really took the energy out of me. We'll try to cover at least 12 miles tomorrow.

(8.7 Miles - 187.9 Total)