I had a nice hammock spot overlooking the lean-to and cascades and ended up getting to sleep early last night. So I woke up early, chatted with the others at the site: Pigweed, Troop Leader, Goldie, and The Kids. There were a few other NOBOs tenting but were still asleep. I packed, ate a quick breakfast, and departed at 7:10am. It was an easy 3+ miles to our food drop site that had been arranged with Ole Man at the AT Lodge. Our buckets (literally buckets with lids) would be delivered yesterday pm. We had pre-packed these with food and items we needed for the second half of the 100 miles. The alternative was to carry a full 10 days of food, which didn’t sound like a great idea just starting out SOBO without being fully conditioned for the trail.
After refilling my food bag and dropping my trash in the bucket I continued on. I had headed out before the others. I enjoyed some solitude and nature hiking alone and only passed perhaps four NOBOs all morning. I happened upon a grouse who fanned her tail and engaged me with a show and noise, probably to distract from her chicks that must have been nearby. She crossed the trail right in front of me and circled around while clucking and chirping to get my attention.
It was another beautiful day with a few great views along the way.
The trail crossed a large section of predominantly maple forest, along with other sections dominated by spruce, white pine, birch, and cedars. The little spruce trees in particular smell amazing—like a Christmas candle.
Around mid day I crossed Pleasant Stream which offered a nice sunny spot. I took advantage of the sun and dried my shoes, socks, and other things still wet from yesterday. I filtered more water and had some heavy snacks for lunch.
Pleasant Stream lived up to its name and I must have spent an hour there enjoying the dragonfly activity, green river frogs, and babbling stream. A small butterfly or moth joined me and rested on my leg while it warmed its wings.
The rest of the day’s hike was mostly uphill to the lean-to. I arrived around 4:10pm and set up the hammock. The brook next to us is nice with a cascading waterfall into a swimming hole. It was too late in the day to swim but the water was clean and cold—the best we had so far.