So I want to dedicate this day to a good friend who loved to travel but is unfortunately no longer with us and that’s Herbert. My dear friend, Sandy, who was his wife, sent me a marble that has some of his ashes in it. He was a world traveler and would have enjoyed seeing the sights on the Appalachian Trail. It is my honor to carry this marble the rest of the way and to the top of Katadhin with me. This day is for you too, Sandy. Thanks for sending this to me.

I had a wonderful zero on Pleasant Pond yesterday. I didn’t do much of anything except for stuff my face full of food, drink beer, go out on a canoe with Sparkle, and start a fire in the fire pit using Fritos as fire starters after the cardboard Pete tried using didn’t work. I heard of Doritos being a good fire starter but I only had Fritos. I figured a few of those should work just as well. They worked perfectly. They burn well and for a long time allowing the flame to catch the wood around it.

Sparkle and I headed back to trail today and then started off climbing Pleasant Pond Mountain then Middle Mountain and finally Moxie Bald Mountain. The lean-to we wanted to camp by was loaded with people already by 3pm and almost all the spots for tents were taken. Did we hit a SOBO bubble? Don’t know. We ended up going to the end of the path and setting up camp near Bald Mountain Pond. There’s a lot of moose poop around this spot so I hope my tent isn’t trampled by a moose tonight. I didn’t have anywhere else flat that I could fit my tent. Today’s 13+ mile day was exhausting with the climbs but tomorrow should be a bit better although it will be around 18 miles. There’s not much in the way of elevation changes. At least there won’t be any mountain climbs. Instead, tomorrow will have three, possibly four water crossings that some sound like it could get pretty deep. At least I’m heading into Monson tomorrow for my last hostel stay. So if I’m soaked, I’ll get to dry out there. It will be the final place for me to prepare for the 100-mile wilderness and then I’ll be heading to Katadhin after that.