Saturday, September 19 7:21 pm 15.1 mi
AT 2022.7 Flagstaff Campsite → AT 2037.8 Pierce Pond Lean-to
Weather: Cool, windy, blue sky and fluffy white clouds
Trail Conditions: FLAT! Seriously – look at the elevation profile! Did trip on a nasty loose root
My Condition: Hoping my food lasts until Monson. My hiker hunger was out in full force yesterday and today
Early breakfast tomorrow at Tom Harrison’s Pierce Pond Camp. Big stack of patriotic pancakes for $9. Excited for the Kennebec River crossing too. Running Bear and Storyteller were both here this morning, so I’m only a day behind some familiar faces. Had lunch on a bridge with Blue and Hummingbird. Sat in the shelter and watched the last episode of Crazy Delicious with the trail fam while we all ate. My shoes got SOAKED getting water from the pond – the waves got me! Beautiful sunset over the lake.
Post Trail Analysis
Other than ice cream eating competitions with Hummingbird, loose roots were my biggest nemesis on trail. I stumbled over plenty of rocks and roots, sure, but generally I was able to catch myself before faceplanting thanks to my trusty trekking poles. There’s nothing worse than catching your foot on a root that has been cut or snapped off at the end closer to you. The root follows your foot through the entire motion of your step, so as you try to lift your foot to step over it, it follows your foot up. As you try to power through the root, it pushes back. No matter what you do, the root is right there, caught on your foot, ready to keep you from completing the motion of your step. You barely feel it, and then all of a sudden you end up horizontal.
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