July 1 Sidney Tappan Campsite, ME to Cooper Brook Falls Lean-To, ME 17.1 Miles

---

What a lousy night! The trail work crew was loud most of the night. They might be considerate to the trees and plants, but didn't care about the people who were sleeping near them. I got to sleep about 2AM, even with earplugs some of the voices still cut through. We were up by 5:30 doing the cooking and packing. The work crew was up about 6. One of the young men came over and apologized. We had a few words, all civil but he knows my mind now. We hit the trail by 6:45, this was the first camp of the entire trail we have not exchanged pleasantries with those still in camp as we walked out.

The trail had an almost 1,000' climb up West Peak. The trail crew had been working on switchbacks and stairs. I must say their work on the trail is better than their manners. It had rained a little during the night but nothing real bad. The bushes were covered with water soaking us from the waist down. No views from the tops of the ridges and mountains today, only mist and clouds. On the way up "Dubbs" passed us. We had spent a night with him in PA in May. He was the hiker whose pack was under 8lbs before adding food and water. He does 20 - 30 mile days and will finish before 4 July! He was in a very bad mood because the weather. He moves so fast and does long days. There are few people to talk to. It is good he is ending soon, much more and I think he might quit. The second mountain was Hay Mtn another 400' climb then the next was White Cap Mtn that was a 700' climb topping out at 3,654'. On a good day you can see Katahdin from here, we were lucky to see the next 100' of trail! We dropped down to Logan Brook and took a break at the shelter there and enjoyed a brief visit from the sun. In the next stretch we had to ford a very fast stretch of water again. CC has problems with these crossings. I think she might quit if there were many more to do. With all the rain every stream, brook and river is at least a foot above normal. Some are many feet over their banks.

We made the second shelter by 1PM and decided to push to the third as the trail was kind to us and the rain was holding off. We arrived at the Cooper Brook Falls Shelter by 5PM. Walking in our hearts sank as the place was loaded with tents, we were sure the shelter and all the prime (flat) tent sites were full. Much to our surprise the shelter was empty, up went our little bug tent and the rest was easy. The falls were roaring and the water right at our door step. Rain drops started to fall as we tucked ourselves in.

Patrick, Deborah Mooney aka OD & CC
All Who Wander Are Not Lost

For Photos and Video: http://odandccslongwalk.shutterfly.com/

OD and CC have been marking their path with a GPS using SPOT Satellite Messenger and can be tracked at the following link. It keeps track of their last 7 days: http://tinyurl.com/o2g53z

---