Cookie Monster
All right. Day three of the 100 Mile Wilderness. Today is September 15, and we all woke up very early in our stealth spot, which was just before an area we think is called The Hermitage. And it's near — and inclusive of — the Gulf Hagas Wilderness. Both of those are considered national natural habitats or something like that. So you're not allowed to camp in either of them.
Our stealth spot was right before you reach the fourth river crossing of the 100 Mile Wilderness, so when I got up, I just put on my Tevas rather than my hiking shoes. I wasn't really interested in going less than a quarter of a mile and having to take my shoes off to ford the river.
I think Carolina Sunshine, Salamander, and I left camp record early — it was maybe 6:25 — but we had a big 16-mile day ahead of us and a decent amount of elevation to hike. So we just got up and got moving, and we reached the river by maybe 6:45.
The water was extremely cold, but it's been a very, very dry stretch in Maine lately, and the sun was out, so we really didn’t have any room to complain. In previous years, and especially last year, these river fordings were quite treacherous, because the weather was so wet for an extended period of time. So if all we had to contend with was cold feet, then we should consider ourselves lucky. [Wife note: One of the hikers I followed on YouTube last year had a particularly dangerous crossing that she later regretted doing, because she almost got swept away.]
After we crossed the river, we put our hiking shoes on and got moving. And today’s hike was a little different from yesterday’s, when we’d started climbing almost immediately after leaving the campsite. Today, we had a nice little warm-up hike first that covered a couple miles. It was just beautiful, walking along some rivers and seeing waterfalls and all that stuff. And the weather today, again, was perfect. We've been super, super lucky with that.
We eventually started going up and over a few different mountains and ultimately wound up on top of Whitecap Mountain, which is the tallest peak in the 100 Mile Wilderness, at about 3,600 feet. Relative to some of the mountains we’ve done in the recent past, that isn't a terribly high mountain, but nonetheless, it's the tallest one before you get to Katahdin.
So when you get up to the peak of Whitecap, you can see Katahdin very clearly from one of the viewpoints. And Carolina Sunshine, Salamander, Sparkle, Bouge, and I were all standing there for a bit, just marveling that in a few days, we’ll be on top of Katahdin and done with our thru-hike. That was very exciting.
While I was up on Whitecap, I had a little cell service, so that was my chance to call Shaw's Hiker Hostel to confirm my food drop. Also, Salamander had asked me if I wouldn’t mind adding a few items to my resupply for her. She’d chosen to try to carry all her food for the whole 100 Mile Wilderness but was apparently starting to run a little shorter than she’d expected. I’d elected to pay the fee to have Shaw’s bring me a bucket of food a little more than halfway through, and it was no big deal to add a couple more items. I'm scheduled to meet the resupply person at 2 o'clock tomorrow, which means I've got to get up early again and hustle. If I do, I should be able make 12 miles by 2, given that the terrain flattens out quite a bit after today.
All along the trail, we’ve been seeing these fuzzy black-and-white caterpillars that we call “cookies and cream” caterpillars. They seem to be particularly abundant in Maine, and you have to be careful where you put your hands and where you sit, because they can actually kind of hurt you. I’ve heard of hikers who have had them in their shoes and gotten terrible rashes on their feet from them. One guy I knew even had one stuck in his shorts for a while and had to deal with, let’s say, some pretty unpleasant irritation for a good week or so.
[Wife note: They’re technically called Hickory Tussock Moth Caterpillars, and they’re not toxic, but their hairs are like little needles that can get embedded in your skin, causing itching, burning, and rash. Yikes.]
We pulled into the campsite at the East Branch lean-to a little bit after 5 o’clock, and shortly afterward, Munich Mule showed up, which was great. I always like hanging out with him at camp. And not long after that, Not Yet and Hootie showed up, too, followed by G-bird and Matthew. So we’ve got a good crew here tonight. Now I'm in my tent, and I’ve got to get up super early tomorrow to make my food drop. All in all, another good day in the 100 Mile Wilderness.
