Beamis is a funny name.

Day 116 - 8/14/10
I did get to bed early last night, around 8:00-8:30, but I didn't wake
up early today like I'd hoped. Wasn't moving around until 7:30, and
didn't leave till an hour later. First thing I had was a big drop down
to Sawyer Notch, then a steep climb over (Mad Eye) Moody Mountain (Any
HP fans out there?). It was a small mountain, only 2440 feet, but man
was it tough. Along the way up was a reroute that I was hesitant on
taking because usually they are unnecessary and add extra miles to
your trip, but this one seemed like a necessity so I took it. Plus the
sign was nice about it, saying "please".

After going up and over Moody I was at South Arm Rd. and from there
went right back up, this time climbing Old Blue. Good name for a
mountain. It was like going up and over Moody back to back, but twice
as high. When I finally made it to the top of that one it was 1:30, so
I'd done 7 miles in 5 hours. Not very good pace. At the top I rested
for a 1/2 hour, then continued on to do another 6 miles through the
Beamis Range to Beamis Mountain Lean-to. Not too bad, nothing like
earlier at least, plus there were a lot of nice rocky exposed sections
for decent views. I made it to the shelter around 5:15, and Ichabod
strolled in a few minutes after. I had written in the register that I
was contemplating a few more miles, and when he saw that he asked if I
still wanted to. Since I knew he'd also be going along if I did I said
"sure" and after a short snack break I headed out a bit ahead of him.

I came to a nice brook 3.5 miles after the shelter and found a good
campsite nearby. He showed up ten minutes later and we both set up
camp and got cooking right away because it was past 7 by then and the
sun is setting earlier and earlier. Summer is definitely coming to an
end. While we ate we talked about all sorts of stuff, grad school,
food, books, travel, BBQ, roadtrips, etc. He's a good person to talk
to as you can see by the variety of topics. Around 9 we called it a
night, and after I'm done this it's right to bed. I'm beat after those
two big climbs today, but I'm glad I pushed for a few more miles so
I'll only have a pretty easy 16 tomorrow. Might stop into Rangeley for
a pizza with Ichabod, too. We'll see how the day goes.

Total miles: 1945.2