Day 21 - Sunday, July 3

Linda

Broke camp and were hiking by 5:45. The trail climbed up pretty steeply from the stream, but we were making good time over all the Bemis Peaks. It was mostly overcast, so we couldn't see much. We arrived at Elephant Mountain Lean-to around 10:30 and took a long break. We talked to a guy who started at Mahoosuc Notch. He said it was pretty rough, but he wasn't really in condition. He also said that Mike Cahill had just left at 9:00 and left us a message that he was going to Squirrel Rock Lean-to. We figured it was an easy 7 miles, so we fruited around for quite a while before going on.

The miles really weren't too bad, but there were a lot of ups and downs we weren't expecting, so we were worn out by 4:00 when we finally got to Squirrel Rock. We'd heard that the lean-to was awful, but it wasn't too bad. It had a lumpy dirt floor, but was livable. The worst part was the porcupines in the area. The trail register was full of reports of porcupine damage, and the quills everywhere served as evidence. We fixed dinner, then hung up packs, boots, etc., before going to bed. The bugs, especially the no-see-ums were out in force. We walked 14.6 miles today.

Ron

Trail activity has begun to pick up for the big weekend. There are a lot of hikers, especially day hikers, out. Tonight we are camped at Squirrel Rock Lean-to. The climb up over Bemis Mountain was good. Most of the major climbing was done by 9:30. The rest of the trail here from Bemis was long, primarily due to the many ups and downs.

This area has a high concentration of porcupines. Their quills are everywhere. There is a dead one about twenty yards from the lean-to. I haven't seen any live ones yet. Today was good but my feet still get worn out too fast.

(14.6 Miles - 231.2 Total)