We awoke this morning to another bright crisp day. I was glad because I knew the cool temperatures would make the morning climb easier. Joplin was still in her sleeping bag when we packed up to go. We tried to be quiet, but it's not easy in a shelter.

The climb up Barren Mountain was not bad; however, the views were less than great. Another range of mountains stood between Katahdin and us. Again, no good views of the mountain we been chasing so long. From the top of Barren, the trail goes up and down over a series of different tops. These climbs combined with the MATC Roller coaster (a series of meaningless ups and downs with no views and no way to get off) was beginning to wear us down. By the time we reached West Chairback Pond we were beat.

Our planned destination for the night was to camp somewhere around the Hermitage for a 15-mile day. The map said no camping was allowed, but we thought we might be able to stealth camp. If we couldn't it would be another five miles to the next shelter. That would make it some twenty plus miles over hard ground. At the West Chairback Pond I decided to take a blue blaze trail that would cut off about three miles of the AT. On the map it didn't appear that the trail would be getting any better. I was also disappointed that the Chairback range didn't produce any of the views I remembered from our '77 hike. I have pictures taken from the top yet nothing seems to match my memories.

From the AT there was a side trail to a logging road, and from there it was a relatively flat hike to The Hermitage. We made the hike in good time. When we arrived at The Hermitage I was glad we decided to skip around. The place was crowed with day hikers doing the Gulf Hagas Trail. It would have been almost impossible to camp here undetected. As a result we had to hike another five miles to the next shelter.

We arrived to find Chief, and a section hiker. Later, Minty Fresh, Thunder Chicken and Papasan and company arrived. Tomorrow we'll climb White Cap Mountain. It's our last big mountain before Katahdin, and our last chance for some great views.

Note: When it comes to Blue Blazing, I don't have much of an opinion on how people should hike the trail. Many people carry the hike with a religious zeal. Taking extreme care to hike past every blaze. When two trails lead from a shelter to the AT, they leave the way they entered so as not to miss a single blaze. Personally I don't believe that the people who laid out the trail are gods. Often the trail laid out seems a matter of convenience and doesn't follow any logical fashion. For me what's important is what you're getting out of the hike and not the exact path you are hiking. Still for the most part we stuck with the standard AT route.

We left this morning at our usual time, but Joplin wasn't even awake yet. We climbed and climbed until we got onto the Chairback Range. On top of Barren Mountain, there was a fire tower, but you weren't allowed to climb up it. It was too cold to climb it anyway, so we just ate a few snacks and went on. We were going to stop at the next shelter, but the sign said it was .4 mile off the trail, so we didn't bother going down. The Chairbacks were a bunch of ups and downs, more commonly known in the thru-hiker crowd as PUDs (pointless ups and downs).

After a while, my knees began to hurt, so we took a blue blazed side trail we saw on the map. That was a flat road walk, and it cut off three AT miles. We had originally planned to stealth camp at The Hermitage, but as soon as we saw how many people there were, we decided to go further to the next shelter. The extra five miles were long and hard, but it made us even more appreciative of the shelter when we finally dragged ourselves in. Chief was already there with a weekend hiker. We cooked dinner, then spent our usual evening hanging out with the guys. Minty, Thunder Chicken, Papasan and parade finally showed up (not all at the same time). We finally went to bed knowing tomorrow was a big day over White Cap.