September 7 (Day 130)

It was a pretty full house at the shelter last night. Lots of people showed up. There were five of us in the shelter, which was a little tight, but not terrible, and there were four others tenting.

I would have slept in a bit, but everyone in the shelter started moving around early, so I got up too. I took my time getting ready, but I was still the first one to leave camp.

Barren Mountain was just ahead of us, and it was steep climbing in places as usual. It was extremely humid and hazy today. I sweated like I did in New York, and the views were not very great from the top because of the haze.

The next few miles were along the ridgeline, and the hiking was pretty strenuous, because the trail went constantly up and down over smaller peaks, and the ground was very uneven.

When I started the day, I had been thinking that I would stop for the day at the Chairback Gap Shelter, which was just 11 miles from my starting point. However, after listening to people talking last night about what sort of weather we might see this weekend, I decided to walk farther so I can try to get up and over the last few real mountains before any thunderstorms show up.

So I walked past Chairback Gap, descended the horrible pile of rocks, and came to the West Branch of the Pleasant River, which is another fording opportunity. There were a couple Maine ATC guys there doing work on a side trail and one of them gave me a Coke. Then I waded across.

After a total of about 21 miles today, I arrived at this shelter. Of course, it's empty for now, but who knows how many will arrive. I'm at the base of Whitecap Mountain, which is where I wanted to be today, so that I can get up and over Whitecap tomorrow morning and hopefully avoid walking through any bad weather while I'm up on one of these ridgelines.

September 8 (Day 131)

I spent last night in the shelter all by myself, except for the squirrels and chipmunks.

It was very hazy and humid when I woke up this morning and a few raindrops fell a couple different times while I was eating my breakfast and getting ready.

I started off up the mountain and was immediately drenched in sweat. It probably never got above 80 degrees Fahrenheit today, but the humidity was no joke.

The approach to Whitecap Mountain is a little annoying. There's a lot of up and down, and I climbed over Gulf Hagas Mountain, West Peak, and Hay Mountain just to get to Whitecap. It did open up a bit on top of Whitecap, and there were some pretty strong breezes in the open, which allowed me to cool off some. There were also clear views of Katahdin (clear except for the haze). [Ed. note: Katahdin Mountain in Maine is the end of the trail and Ben's goal.] Katahdin does look pretty large, but it's not a very pointy mountain, which leads me to hope that the climb up its slopes is not very steep.

There were a lot of stone stairs on the descent from Whitecap, and there were some remnants of Trail Magic at the bottom. Next, it was up and over Little Boardman Mountain.

Then, on the other side, the trail became extremely nice and easy. The last 3 to 4 miles I walked today were excellent.

I saw no one at all throughout the entire day today, until I got to this shelter, where one thru-hiker was taking a break but has since moved on.

This shelter is very nicely situated next to a large stream at the foot of some cascading falls. There are small fish in the pool by the shelter, and the noise from the falls blocks out just about everything else.