Today was much better than yesterday to be out on the AT. In fact, it was picture-perfect: sunny with cloudless blue skies and a temperature perfect for hiking. The trail was much drier: yesterday the climb down from Chairback Mountain would have been risky, probably dangerous. Today it was only challenging. Today the ford of the Pleasant River never got over knee deep; yesterday we’re glad we didn’t have to try it!

And in the most comforting news of the day, the good folks at the Lakeshore House had our bucket with four days’ worth of food waiting for us exactly where they said it would be. What a relief, even if the now heavier packs have also slowed us down a bit!

We wanted to go further this afternoon, but concern about making the next water source and finding a stealth site large enough for our three tents before dark made us conservative, so we stopped early. With only 76.8 miles to go, we need to cover more ground tomorrow, once we get over White Cap Mountain…

GO Man and the Gang of Four were stirring much earlier this morning than our shelter mate Mad Hat would have liked, but both the rain and the terrain of the last 36 hours had put us well behind schedule, and when you can’t make it up by going faster, the only other option is to make it up by going early. We thought about Rusty Bumper one more time as we made our way down the initial steep hill carrying full packs, wishing we’d read the account of his accident a little more carefully back when we had a cell signal, so we could better visualize the events of his amazing rescue.

We are on top of Chairback Mountain in no time at all, and treated to great vistas on a cold crisp morning. Looking down at the jumble of rocks below us that are the AT, we realize this time we’ll be paying for the view on the way down. In between handholds and butt slides, we play the game of “which previous tough descent does this remind you of,” and at this stage of the thru hike, we have any number with which we can recall and compare. Today, the St. John Ledges got the most votes. After an hour on the trail, we have yet to cover a mile today! At least all the rocks are dry, or it would have taken even longer.

We drop down 1,400’ on the way to the Katahdin Ironworks Road, which at an elevation of a mere 788 feet above sea level, is yet another indication the White Mountains are a long way behind us! Not to mention the Smokies… There we follow Rebecca’s directions and, with great relief, find our re-supply food buckets waiting for us. We quickly open our packs to exchange two days worth of trash for four days of food. N laments he did not include a large soda at the top of our bucket, as it would have been a great early morning boost, and he wouldn’t have had to tote the bottle out as trash. However, with the original plan to pick up this food drop yesterday afternoon, a soda was not on his radar back in Monson when we packed them…

We meet a group of eight or so hikers whose clothing indicates they are not thru hike southbounders, and they advise us (as we well know) we have a major ford ahead: the west branch of the Pleasant River, which AWOL’s guide describes as “wide ford with slick rocky bottom.” When we reach the south bank, we see GO Man just ending a break on the other side. He shouts back advice, and after switching to our Crocs, we easily manage the crossing. Later, talking to folks who crossed yesterday, it sounds like with the high water, it was a whole different ball game.

On the gradual uphill climb north of the ford, we again see the mother – son team of Great Lakes and Tall Grass, who we met briefly in Monson. They are finishing an AT hike they started in 2011, and are pleasant company as we leapfrog with them over the next two days.

The next shelter is only 9.9 miles from today’s starting point, but between it and the second shelter north (another 7.2 miles distant) are four climbs, our last such grouping on the trail. After tackling the first climb, we come to a group of campsites, complete with privy (Sidney Tappan Campsite), and though we’d like to go on for another hour and a half this afternoon, this looks like a great stopping point, and the water source is much easier to reach than last night’s. Castaway builds a great fire, and Hiker Midnight finds us already bedded down for a cold clear night.

[To M B and the boys from Hamburg, PA: In our 2107+ miles of hiking the AT, we have met only one person from South Dakota, our own Kleenex, so she must be the girl you met with sore feet back around the Pinnacle. She is doing great, as you can see by today’s lead picture. We’ve mentioned it before, but she also has an AT blog website: www.atforslcc.wordpress.com
She was glad to hear from you!]