Today can best be described as a good day gone badly. It started out great. The easy terrain from Little Bigelow made hiking easy. We even got to see our first moose on the trail. Brandon was out front when he saw something move. He stopped and pointed to the bull moose. I got the camera out and snapped a picture, then the moose moved on to the trail. He stood there in profile for about 30 seconds. Regrettably, my first picture was the last picture on the roll. We stood there fumbling to load a new roll as the moose casually walked away.

By 9:45 we'd made over seven miles to West Carry Pond Lean-to. It was a far cry from yesterday's hiking. During the last mile a light rain was beginning to fall. The next shelter was ten miles away. In this rain I knew we wouldn't stop until we got there. By the time we were ready to leave most, of our thru-hikers group had arrived. When we got to Pierce Pond, I was going to Harrison's Pierce Pond Camp and make reservations for everyone for breakfast tomorrow.

The remainder of the hike was over flat terrain. If it had to rain today was as good a day as any. At least we didn't have to cross the Bigelows in this weather. But there were times when the footing was very muddy. We often found ourselves slip sliding along. Both of us took a nasty fall when we couldn't get good traction. Still, we were able to make fast progress overall. We reached the shelter after covering the ten miles in a little over three hours.

I was glad and relieved when we walked over the hill and saw the shelter on the shore of the pond down below. My relief passed quickly as we rounded the corner of the shelter and looked in. It was full, and there was no room. For a few moments Brandon and I stood outside in the cold rain trying to recoup. The looks of those already inside told us we weren't welcome and to get lost. This was greatly disappointing, considering we'd been hiking with three of them for the last few weeks. Still there was nothing to be gained but a case of Hypothermia by continuing to stand there in the rain.

We quickly left to find a place to set up our tarp. The lack of flat areas around the shelter and the size of our tarp made finding a suitable location difficult. At last we found a reasonable site. With the tarp set up, we quickly crawled in side to change into warm clothes, eat some food and crawl into our sleeping bags. Within a short while we were able to warm up and feel ok.

A short while later the other hikers behind us began to arrive. With no room in the shelter, they all headed to the camp to see if they could secure a cabin. Unfortunately some of them were quite wet and were showing the first signs of hypothermia. There was little option for them but to get out of the rain as soon as possible. When the rain finally began to slack off, I headed down to the camp to check out the other hikers.

Sitting on the porch were Whispering Pine, Cowboy, Thunder Chicken, John, Minty Fresh, Old Crow, Pepie and Little Moe. The camp was closed, so they couldn't get a cabin for the night. They had a chance to change to dry clothes and get out of the rain, but it was clear they were still cold. Someone had managed to contact the Hostel at Caratunk via the camp's radiophone. The hostel manager was driving the 50 or so miles over back roads to pick them up. Caratunk is only about three miles in a direct line with the camp. However, there are no nearby bridges over the Kennebec River.

Before I left the camp, I made breakfast reservations for Brandon and me. I'm not sure what the others are going to do. We'd all planned to have a great breakfast together tomorrow. It's one of those occasions that memories are made of. I still remember well our breakfast here 20 years ago when it was the Carrying Place. Now it doesn't appear that will happen.

The more that I think about the reactions from those in the shelter this afternoon the more frustrated I get. It's not as if we wanted to take over the shelter and kick them out. All we wanted to do was have a place to temporary get out of the rain, change clothes and regroup. The only thing they needed to do was make a little room. I realize that people hiking the trail need to be self-contained. Brandon and I were able to successfully overcome the problem. Still many people hike the AT without a great deal of experience. The fact that there are so many shelters tends to contribute to that inexperience. At the very least, shelters delay the time when hikers must deal with the harsh reality of the trail. I also believe that it is incumbent on those in the shelters to allow others to utilize them in cases of emergency. Whether we like it or not, we are all in this together.

Now a day that could have been the prelude to a great memory on the trail will become little more than bitter one. That is true for both those in, and out of the shelter.

Today was a 17-mile day, and we were expecting rain. We left early and climbed the only two bumps for the day fairly early. Then it started to rain. We saw a moose and got a picture of it. It was still raining when we got to the first shelter where we ate lunch. Even thought it was only 10:00, we figured the rain wouldn't let up for the rest of the day, and we wouldn't have any other dry place to stop and eat lunch. We cruised along, soaking wet and tired for the next 10 miles, but we had to go on, because there was no dry place to camp in between. We just kept walking and walking. We only took one break for a candy bar, but we at it while we hiked. We hiked and hiked for what seemed like an eternity. We finally came to Pierce Pond Shelter, but it was full. We ran around and found a place to set up our tarp, then piled everything inside and crawled in our sleeping bags to get warm. Everyone else eventually showed, but since the shelter was full, they had to find another place to stay for the night.