Survivormen on the AT!

Day 121 - 8/19/10
Got a great jump on the day with Davin, leaving at 7. Matt and Dan
left a little before us so we didn't catch them until Little Bigelow.
It was a decent amount of climbing up that mountain, but nothing like
yesterdays elevation gains. I forgot to mention in yesterdays post
that Matt also brought along his yellow lab Maximus. Actually he's
still a pretty young pup, but he handled the hiking of today and
yesterday very well. He was like our trail mascot, and I really
enjoyed having him hike with us, being all exuberant and happy.

After a short break on top of Little Big we headed onward to the Lean-
to that we had been aiming for yesterday. Took another short break
there, checking the register and whatnot, then it was a quick 1.4 to
the road where Dan and Matt had their car parked. We hung there for a
bit, then Davin and I said goodbye and continued on the AT. From that
road onward the trail was really nice, and Davin and I had some good
convo going. We stopped at a great little sandy beach for lunch and he
actually took a dip. I think it was the end of Flagstaff Lake, which
you can easily see from up on Bigelow. That lake is huge, and I heard
from someone on the trail that it's manmade. Pretty impressive...if
that's true.

Davin seemed to enjoy the swim, and afterward we carried on to the
next shelter, West Carry Pond. We went up to it and there was trail
magic there unlike any I'd seen before. A giant bucket filled with
small candies, Tootsie rolls, jolly ranchers, butterscotch, etc. It
was a totally new twist on TM and we loved it. Had like ten pieces,
and even though they were all squishy and melty it was terrific.

With all the sugar we were on a super sugar high, plus the trail
really leveled out to easy terrain, so we did a quick 4 miles to
another beachy spot, this time on East Carry Pond. It was about 5ish
by then, so we were thinking it'd be a cool spot to set up camp. Davin
took a swim while I looked around for camping spots in case the beach
wouldn't work out. I found a nice one nearby, and on my way back to
the beach I met up with Rainer and Dewlap again. I was figuring I'd
bump into them again soon, and it was cool to talk about stuff since
we'd last seen one another like our trip through the Whites and
Mahoosuc Notch. They left after a few minutes, I told them I'll be the
one catching up to them now, and then Davin and I decided to build a
shelter on the beach Survior style out of sticks and rocks and stuff.
It actually came out really good, plus we got a fire going, so things
fell into place nicely. Now we're just hanging by the fire having a
good time. We'll be crossing the Kennebec tomorrow so hopefully I'll
be seeing my Dad there. Sort of tough to plan out with the cruddy
service though. Anyway, that's all for today. Another good one on the
AT, only a few more left. Can't believe it.

Total miles: 2018