Day 42 - Sunday, July 24

Linda

Got going this morning around 7:30. I woke up at 6:00, but Ronald told me to go back to sleep because I didn't look good. Not to argue over getting more sleep, I did. When we finally got on the trail, we made very good time to Big Branch Shelter 3 miles away. We went on to the next shelter and had a few munchies before going on. We crossed over Baker Peak which had a beautiful view of the valley from a rock cliff. On the trail down to Griffith Pond we saw a deer which must have been tame, because it shadowed us down the trail like a puppy. When we walked, it walked. When we stopped to look, it stopped to look. We weren't so surprised to see a deer, but its demeanor wasn't typical of a wild animal.

All around Griffith Pond has to be the longest stretch of bog bridge we've seen. Must be a half mile or so. Looks like a railroad track. The Griffith Pond Shelter burned down, so we went a half mile on to Peru Shelter to eat lunch. The day was very pleasant and sunny, but windy. After lunch, we climbed up Peru and Styles Peaks. We had heard they were awful climbs, but there wasn't much to them. Styles was steep on the descent, but not for very long. Met a through hiker from Norfolk, Don Elliott at Mad Tom Shelter. Talked for a while, then went on up Bromley. There's a ski slope on top of Bromley, then the trail goes straight down for a while and levels off before the shelter.

Ronald was ticked at me about something by then, so we stopped at the shelter for dinner, but he wasn't speaking to me, so I talked to the caretaker at the shelter for a while. We were really getting tired of the prepackaged meals Ronald had made up for us before we left, and that didn't help our state of mind. After dinner we went on, and I was more than happy to, because a large noisy group was already crammed into the cabin. We went down a half mile just before the road and set up the tent and hung up the packs and went to sleep. Tensions seemed to subside by bedtime, so the day ended on a positive note. Went a total of 18.9 miles today.

Ron

We left camp this morning a 7:30 and had an easy 3 mile walk to Big Branch Lean-to. Pushed on past and stopped to snack at Lost Pond Lean-to. Linda was still having trouble keeping in food. She seems to be doing better now. The hike up Baker Peak was hot but not hard. At the top we got some good views of Danby and took some pictures.

As we were headed along the trail toward Griffith Pond I spotted a deer in the trail around the bend. Linda was in front and looking at the ground and didn't see it. I tried to call softly to get her attention, but she was in her own world. I spoke up but was afraid that the deer would bolt. When I finally got Linda's attention, the deer ran away, but not very far. It walked off the trail a few feet and stopped. We took a few pictures and figured the deer would leave when we passed. As we hiked down the trail the deer followed us. It trotted along to keep pace. After a few minutes it got bored with us and went back to grazing.

The trail along Griffith Pond has about .4 miles of bog bridges. This is the longest bridge section we've walked so far. It kind of feels like being on a train. We ate a leisurely lunch at Peru Peak Lean-to to get the energy to tackle the peak. Only when we climbed it, there wasn't much to it. We crossed Peru and Styles peaks and made it to Mad Tom Lean-to. At the lean-to we met another long distance hiker who had started hiking from Virginia the same day we started from Katahdin.

I talked too long and Linda wanted to get moving. I got mad on top of Bromley but we worked it out. We stopped at Bromley Camp and fixed supper. We talked with the caretaker for a while then walked another half mile and setup camp.

(19 Miles - 522.9 Total)