Sunday, July 14, 2019
Carl Newhall Shelter to Mountain View Pond
12.7 Miles
We started at
7:00 and summitted four mountains in four hours, Gulf Hagas, West Peak, Hay
Mountain, and White Cap. In spite of the
81 degree weather, we covered 7.2 miles before noon. Man-made steps were constructed for much of
the inclines and declines.
Atop White Cap
Mountain, we had phone reception. I make
a quick phone call and checked my text messages. I had one from Blue Feather
who told me that Daisy had fallen 3.5 miles north of Monson and broke both
bones in one of her legs. She had to be
air lifted off the trail to a hospital for surgery the next morning. I understand her foot got caught in some
roots and she moved forward but her foot did not. As she fell, it twisted her leg and broke
it. Their goal of completing this trail
is gone for this year.
We rushed off
White Cap due to impending bad weather.
But before we went we made our way to the overlook toward the north and
caught a view of Katahdin. Whew!
After East
Branch Lean-to the path leveled out a lot for awhile. We stopped for the day to camp beside
Mountain View Pond. The camping area we
reached when we first came to the pond didn’t look too promising, so we
continued around the pond and blue blazed to the left to go to the far side of
the pond. We were the first ones there,
but it was not long before another couple came and took the only other spot
available, then another couple came and was looking for a camping spot. We later came to know them as Brightside and
Squeaks, a husband and wife team of flip-floppers. They wound up summitting Katahdin on the same
day as us.
Wait-up had already gone on down the trail a little ways to get water. When he came back he said there was a nice spot for one tent right off the trail close to the water source, but I had already set up our tent. Also, we thought perhaps the mosquitoes would not be quite as bad close to the water where the wind was blowing slightly. Not true. But he told the last couple about the tent site so they went on down to camp there. The pond water did not look like a safe source for water.
Wait-up had already gone on down the trail a little ways to get water. When he came back he said there was a nice spot for one tent right off the trail close to the water source, but I had already set up our tent. Also, we thought perhaps the mosquitoes would not be quite as bad close to the water where the wind was blowing slightly. Not true. But he told the last couple about the tent site so they went on down to camp there. The pond water did not look like a safe source for water.
We got inside
our tent to eat dinner because the mosquitoes did not give us any relief. All night long we listened to the frogs
croak. We realized that it has taken us four days to
get half way through the 100 Mile Wilderness.
