[at-l] Katahdin Trip Report

[Snodrog5 at aol.com]

and Brownville, Chairback, Gulf Hagas, and Monson... 
The Junction Store in Brownville is a pretty hoppin' place with hikers  
heading into and out of the 100 Mile via the KI road. Glad I stu
Recent hikers at the Birches:
Doom Fly, Hanta, Guns and Jesus, Floyd (?), Dingleberry, Flapper, Bogie and  
Bacall, Coconut Monkey, Robin (?), Running Bear, Bandaloop, Recon and Cher. 
Pooh  Bear, Grizzly Dave, Goatmilk, Cava and others had summited recently.
Missed seeing Stumpknocker by a few hours at Abol Bridge.
Southbounding Mom and daughter should be right behind a fellow with a  
trailname that had something to do with the Budwieser brewery's mascot during  
prohibition. (Note to thru's - don't have a trail name that needs a novel to  
explain it...)
Poptart AT'02 will be the Ridgerunner at Baxter again this year, starting  in 
a few weeks. Hope Linda has plenty of Moxie in stock!
State O' Maine is making improvements at Abol Pines, met the Ranger and a  
volunteer working hard cleaning the area. Good folks.
Ah, Monson... The new owners of Shaws are wicked nice people, and have  
repaired, cleaned, replaced, torn out, painted and polished up the old joint so  it 
is better than ever. Yes, I said better than ever. Buddy's back doing  
shuttles, slack packing, and cooking four bys for breakfast - I just had a 2X,  but 
a successful 8X was reported. There were 8-9 sobos in town, including a  
really nice young man heading from Gaspe to Key West and Allison who is  recovering 
from cracking her chin open. I've never met a more beat up hiker with  a 
better attitude - she'll do fine, I think. Tim at the General Store was  his usual 
friendly self, and a new person has taken over the take-out food  there, to 
rave reviews. New owners of Lake Shore House have converted a stuffy  B&B into 
a welcoming Pub and Eatery. The Pub overlooks the back yard and the  lake, 
with a deck and chairs out by the shore, and Rebekah was *busy* serving a  bunch 
of folks and holding 4-5 conversations at once. It's a talent, I tell ya,  
talent. Monson sights to remember: A GAMEr wistfully peeking through the window  
of the closed BBQ. A southbounder taking the time to say grace  before wolfing 
down an entire loaded pizza. The hiker box at Shaws which  covered a whole 
table, piled high with sobo discards like books, gallon baggies  of gorp, most 
of a PUR filter, spices, oatmeal, teabags, a bottle of olive oil,  the legs 
from a zipoff pair of pants, and a glass quart jar of spaghetti  sauce.
 Gulf Hagas and Chairback made for a long day, only saw one thru, a  fellow 
named Squeaky Clean who was concerned about a quad injury, who hiked  ahead so 
quickly I never caught up to him. Guess that quad is OK :O) At dusk  watched a 
big National Guard helicopter below slowly wind through the valley  between 
Chairback and White Cap. I know it was a huge aircraft, but it looked so  
small... And then it rained and rained and rained and rained.
Going back up in a few weeks with Teatree and Chance - can't wait!
 
Teej