Dates ........ Wednesday, September 11, 2002
Miles ........ 15.9 miles
From ........ Whitehouse Landing Wilderness Camp, NE shore Pemadumcook Lake
To ............. Rainbow Stream lean-to
Weather ... WET. Cooler, mostly cloudy, 60's. Violent thunderstorm, rain all afternoon.

Wednesday, September 11, 2002

Nahmakmanta Stream and Lake, Nesuntabunt Mountain 1540', Crescent Pond, Rainbow Stream, cascade and gorge.

True to their reputation, the Ware's dished out a hearty hiker's breakfast of eggs, pancakes, bacon, home fries, juice and coffee. All I wanted. After breakfast, they gave me a boat ride to the beach at the end of the logging road off the AT. Isaac stayed behind, trying to decide whether or not to climb Katahdin as long as he was in the area. His other option under consideration was going home. I enjoyed making his acquaintance. Along with the Wares, he made my time at Whitehouse landing a great pleasure.

I resumed my hike about 9:00 AM. I enjoyed the cooler weather and was hiking very strong. The trail went along the beautiful Nahmakmanta Stream which flowed between Nahmakmanta and Pemadumcook Lake. It was very pretty, pleasant and flat hiking for nine easy miles. I took a break at Wadleigh Shelter just as it started to rain. Distant thunder spurred me to put on my raingear before I headed out, though it was too warm. I started my climb of Nesuntabunt Mountain, (Where do these folks from Maine get these names, anyway?) a pipsqueak of a mountain only towering over the AT a mere 700 feet. At the base of the mountain, about a mile from the summit, a hellatious thunderstorm blew in. I reached a huge rock formation with a large rock roof just in time to take shelter in it as the wind screamed, lightning lit up the woods, rain poured down in buckets and thunder crashed almost continually. The storm petered out after 20 minutes, but not before bringing down several nearby trees and treetops. (Note: I learned later the same storm front was responsible for the death of a hiker on Mt. Madison, NH)

Unique and well-placed rock shelter - where I hid out during a violent thunderstorm. Dark object under and between the rocks is my backpack. I stayed safe and dry.

Though a pipsqueak on the map, Nesuntabunt Mountain was a worthy challenge of a climb - especially when wet. It had several rock ledges and cliffs near its summit and the trail switched back between and over then and down the other side. With my smooth boot soles, footing was not great and I slipped and fell several times. Fortunately, I did not injure myself. I landed on my bedroll on the back of my pack and slid to a less-than-graceful stop in the mud. I descended to and hiked around the beautiful little Crescent Pond, the rain and wind diminishing to a light, steady rain as I hiked. Despite the rain and my pratt falls, I was hiking very strong in the cooler weather. I actually felt the rain and wet was refreshing and would take it over the heat and high humidity any day.

I hiked out to a bridge at a road and stream junction. These bridges in Maine are nothing to get excited about. Surely, none of their designers or builders ever received an award for excellence in engineering. They were usually plank decks with no guardrails and not even so much as a curb or railing. Just a flat, hopefully sturdy, platform to transport one across the water (or sometimes a gorge). Logging trucks, which must give right-of-way only to God, went flying over them like they were driving the Garden State Parkway or the Pennsylvania Turnpike.

I treated some water at the stream and headed up the Rainbow Stream gorge. Boy oh boy, what a treat. It was a fascinating and beautiful series of roaring cascades, waterfalls and rushing water. It was every bit as beautiful and dramatic as the renowned Gulf Hagas. I loved every inch of it.

Today was, of course, was the first anniversary of September 11 (9-11), 2001. Listening to my little radio, trying to get all-important weather forecasts took me back to that fateful day. I was hiking in Hot Springs NC when I got the absolutely unbelievable news and stayed riveted to the radio for the rest of my hike. Not so this year: I found reliving the events just too depressing. There was nothing uplifting about all the memorial services and special events and the war in Afghanistan was still very much going on. I said a prayer of remembrance for the victims, their families and heroic rescuers and tried to put the events of one year ago out of my mind. I was here to enjoy the AT and finish hiking it. I was so close now.

When I got to the shelter - as wet as could be, Clint and Richard were there, along with two young women, Cindy and Vikki. They kindly made room for me in the small shelter. This is one night I was thankful for a solid roof over my head. The shelter, besides being a welcome haven from the wet, was ideally situated only a few feet from the rushing waters of Rainbow Stream. We had fun talking, hanging out wet clothes, cooking and eating supper and setting up our sleeping arrangements. I made two friends for life when I shared some candy orange segments with the young women. Everyone enjoyed snuggling up in his or her warm, dry sleeping bags. We were all lulled to sleep by the sounds of water over the rocks and the pitter-patter of rain on the roof. Everyone enjoyed a great night's sleep.

 

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