Third Mountain Monument to Carl Newhall Shelter

Day Forty-Six

Saturday, July 13, 2019
Third Mountain Monument to Carl Newhall Shelter
12.5 miles

We were up early at 5:30 this morning ready to go get water and have a good breakfast.  First thing was climbing the straight up cliff to Third Mountain monument. 

It seemed like a long 2 miles before we reached the first spring.  I can’t see us reaching it last night as tired as we were.  We stopped and filled up with water and cooked and ate breakfast.

Over Columbus Mountain and down the other side was roots, roots, roots.  Then Chairback Mountain was rocks, rock, rocks with one field of boulders to descent on our butts.  We met Torch when we passed Chairback Gap Lean-to.  He was going to detour at Gulf Hagas Trail and take the 5.2 loop to see the waterfalls. 

We stopped beside Katahdin Ironworks road to get water and have a hot lunch then continued into the woods where the trail was very nice and level.  We reached the West Branch of Pleasant River where there was a trail maintainer young lady lying in a hammock between two trees talking to passersby and watching people ford the river.  It was a wide, shallow river that even the dayhikers had to cross to get to the Gulf Hagas loop, and there were a large number of them there.

It was a long easy incline up to Carl Newhall  Shelter.  We weren’t there long before Torch showed up, even though he took the detour, he made good time.  Toast was also there and Poncho showed up about nightfall.