The Decision

Gordon and I sat at the Rainbow Stream Lean-to and had a snack, looking at the profile we could see a 3000 ft mountain on down the trail and groaned.

As we sat for a break Gordon asked, ‘Did you get any Blueberries on the last MT peak yesterday?’ No, I was too busy trying to get a clear shot of Katahdin.

‘They were delicious’, he said. I was sorry I had missed them, but it did answer a question that had been bugging me the last two days. I had been seeing “PURPLE POOP’! I kept asking myself, what animal droppings are purple?  Ah ha! the ones that eat Blueberries!!! mystery solved.

Gordon walked ahead as I stopped several places to get a shot of a beautiful flume.

A granite trough that loggers used to float logs down after damming it up.

We passed  Crescent Pond and climbed a very steep 1500’ Nesuntabunt Mt. I was too tired to shoot much but did take a close up of this ‘Antler Moss?’

We came to an improved logging road and could not find a suitable camp site, but settled on a spot beside the road. After eating supper and boiling a liter of water, Gordon said,”There is a mountain up ahead that doesn’t have my name on it, and I don’t want to put it there, if we can get your wife on the phone, I will head out.”

Then I said, “We will go to the right and walk until we get a signal, we will both cease the trail hike.” A SUV came up the road and I waved it down and asked where the road went. She said, ‘I am headed to a campsite at the roads dead end, the other goes to Monson.’

I told Gordon I thought she was wrong, but she is from around here. Gordon being a nice guy looked at our maps, and said, ‘She is probably right jack, we better go left.’ They were right, I would have added about 3 miles to our plight. In keeping with my name, ‘Wrong way Jack!’

So the next morning we started the long walk out, but at least it was a road walk. There was a funny meeting with a ranger in a p/u truck. Who couldn’t figure which direction we should take at the next junction, L or R. She finally told us wrong, she said right, when we got there the sign said to the Left.

We ran out of water, but did find a spring hidden behind some heavy undergrowth. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 miles and still no signal and still 4-5 miles away from the point the ranger said we would get a signal.

BLESSING! A trail shuttle passed us and backed up. “Do you need a ride?” This is the Chariot that stopped and picked us up!

Some sweet words. He went on his way to pick up an injured hiker and got us on the way back.

This is what relief looks like from the back seat. However the kid that sat beside me had to leave the trail and his feet looked terrible. He had to quit less than 50 miles from his goal, he had hiked 2,120miles.

To his Hostel, shown below, where we had a shower, change of clothes, then off  for a sit down dinner while waiting for Sherry and Jack Jr. to pick us up!

 

We passed this interesting café sign. a Logging truck. To a Café the Hostel had suggested.

Thirty minutes after eating Sherry and JJ arrived.

We headed back to Bangor, discussing how we would try to find Mark and let him know we were off the trail.  We also had to check on Gordon’s Plane ticket back to Cleveland, Tennessee.

We did find Mark, And Got Gordon off. More on that tomorrow.

Nite Shipslog

PS: (Borrowed from MA;s blog)

How beautiful it is to do nothing, and then to rest afterward.

Spanish Proverb

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1956 Chevy spotted today on the way to Bar Harbor.