Day 141, miles today - 17.0, total - 1,956.1

August 6, 2013

Campsite near South Arm Road to Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to.

We started hiking this morning a little after 8:00. To start our morning we went over Old Blue Mountain. It was a 2,200 ft. up, it was over three miles. But it was still a long up. It was clear and sunny today. We had several great views. Later we went over Bemis Mountain. There were a lot if blueberry bushes near the top. B-Rocket and I stopped to eat the blueberries for several minutes. We would have stayed longer, but we had a lot of miles still to do. We stopped on the trail to eat lunch. We usually try to stop at a shelter to eat lunch, but it was past time to eat and the next shelter was still a little ways. Much of the forest is thick with trees. In some sections they are growing a foot or so apart. 

When we came to the Bemis Mountain Shelter we stopped to check the log book and to get water. There was a group of young girls camping near the shelter. They were with a camp program from Canada. There were 10-12 girls age 14. They spoke French when talking to each other. We sat at the shelter talking to a section hiker. While we were talking some of the girls came over and sat near us. Most of them could speak English well. We asked a little about their camp. After refilling our water bottles we got ready to leave. One of the girls asked if we were thru-hikers. We told them a little about it. We would have liked to have stayed there. We enjoy talking about our thru-hike and listening to the girls speak French was interesting. But, we still needed to hike eight more miles, so we moved on.

We passed a few sobo's (south bounders) today. By the time we reached the Sabbath Day Pond, that's in front of the shelter, the sun was setting. Looking out across the water at the sunset was beautiful. We stood there enjoying it for several minutes. The water in the pond is very clear. Where we were standing was a very small beach. If it were ninety degrees out it would be a great place for a swim. I doubt that it got much above seventy today.

It was after 8:00 when we reached the shelter that is 200 yards from the Pond. There are a few nobo's here. There's Condor, Bulldog, Todd. There's one sobo. B-Rocket and I went down to the Pond to get water, and then we ate dinner. I had two tuna salad sandwiches, pretzels with Nutella, marshmallows with Nutella and a breakfast bar. At that point it was time to start getting ready to go to sleep. I am sleeping in the shelter. B Rocket set her tent up a short distance from the shelter. She was concerned about the insects bothering her.

Today was a long day. Ever since entering the Whites the miles have been much harder to come by. Before the Whites I could count on averaging 3 miles per hour without any trouble. Now there are sections that 1.5 mph is doing good. It's been an adjustment.

I got a text message from Gaurd, he goes by River Gaurd now. He said he finished, he made it to Katahdin. I knew he was at least two weeks ahead of me. I met him in the Smoky Mountains over three months ago. I hiked with him off and on for about one month. It was nice to hear from someone that I had hiked with that had finished. I'm happy for him.