8/18 Take it Easy

17.5 hiked today, 2128.1 miles N, 45.9 miles left
White House Landing

It seems a cold weather front has moved into the area. It has been cooler than the warm summer temps I would normally expect for August. This morning however it was even colder than that being low 40s when I woke up. As a result I had no incentive to get up and out of bed early. I popped out to answer natures call and then spent the next hour buried deep into my sleeping bag reading and waiting for the sun to warm things up a bit.

The mouse hang I made last night turned out to work. The larger bowel kept the mouse out of my food bag though a mouse still ran over my face overnight causing a startled waking. The couple who was in the camp site behind the shelter had left by the time I had packed up and made it out so I had a very quiet morning. The swimming hole in front of the shelter looked very nice and inviting if it weren't for the chilly weather so I passed on taking a dip before I left.

The trail today was flat and easy and I made great time cruising along. The only things that slowed me down was the copious roots and wet (thus slick) bog bridges from last nights rain. Last nights rain seems to have encourage the mushrooms to grow. Normally I see a few around but this morning I saw yellow ones all over. They came in two varieties. One looked a lot like the horn on a trumpet. This, I am told, is a Chanterelle which is edible though I was not so bold as to try one. The other type looked like small featureless stalks or fingers growing straight out of the ground and tight clumps.

After an hour or two of hiking I caught up with the couple in the tent behind the shelter. Their names are Steve and Ellen and I had a great time chatting with them while we hiked. They are very nice people who are out for a long weekend working on hiking all the AT in Maine.

At the outlet of Mud Pond I did some rock hopping to get a better look at the pond. While doing that I spotted some freshwater clams tucked in amongst the rocks.

We passed the Antlers Campsite which was a stunning place to spend the night. The camping is located on a peninsula so that every site had a great lakeside view while still being in the shelter of tall pine trees. The privy was neat too having windows and a name of "Port Relief". That makes stiff competition for last nights privy's name, "Full Moon".

I enjoyed hanging out with Steve and Ellen so much I joined them for a lunch break at Jo-Mary lake. They shared some of their food and we talked about hiking and my plans for the future which they found very interesting.

We hiked together until the next lean-to at which point they stayed for the night and I covered the 4 miles to White House Landing. Along the way I got a great view of Katahdin at Pemadumcook Lake.

The side trail leading to While House Landing is what I would describe as "Trail, mixed media". It went over old road bed, moss covered boulder fields, rocky shoreline, and meadows. It was a sizable detour, .9 miles, and took a while as the surface was not built well. It appeared sections were rerouted as needed giving the trail a feeling of zig zagging through the woods. Finally I got to the dock at the end. White House Landing is on the other side of the lake and you ask for a shuttle by giving a short blast from an air-horn that is kept at the dock for that purpose. I stretched out in the sun on the deck but did not get much of a break as the boat arrived quickly.

At the other side I found Dent who had hiked in for lunch and decided to stay the night. The place was very quiet with only ourselves and a couple who had boated in for the weekend. The food is a little steep but the pizza was homemade and tasty. Dent and I have had a good time hanging out and talking. It is a shame it is near the end of the trip because I am sure we would enjoying hiking together more.