Day 4: July 17, 2009

The day's walk: 3.7 relatively easy miles

Overnight there were some thundershowers, so I was glad we were in the lean-to. Jon's tent was great, but it had a few little holes here and there, and might not have kept us quite dry under that much rain. Since we'd gone to bed so early, I woke up in the middle of the night feeling fully rested. But I was able to fall back asleep for another hour or two until Tom's alarm went off at 5am, and the tiny bit of gray daylight peeking through the trees confirmed that it was morning. We packed up quickly, ate a simple breakfast (knowing we'd be near restaurants by lunch time) and got on the trail just after 6am.

Backtracking over Fulling Mill Mountain, we saw the fog still pooled in the valley below, as we smelled the fresh dew and felt the cool, peaceful quiet of dawn—an incredible moment that a photo cannot even begin to do justice to, and again a reminder of why I do these trips every year if possible.

One last photo of a log ladder going down Fulling Mill.

The Notch Trail out to the car was a very easy 2.2 mile walk in the woods along a brook, so we made it out even earlier than expected, by about 8:30. We stopped in Newry at a diner for some eggs, homefries, and toast, and then I drove home as Tom and Jon headed back to Portland to get Jon showered and on his bus.

Back at home, I awaited the return of Liz and the boys while unpacking and getting cleaned up. Upon taking off the athletic tape and mole skin that had been on my foot for two days, I remembered a blister that I guess was well-protected—I hadn't even felt it since I wrapped it up back at Speck Pond!