Big Wilson Stream

100 Mile Wilderness, Day 2 (Big Wilson Stream to Long Pond Stream Lean-To)

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(Note: this is part two of a multi-part series on the summer 2017 attempt at the 100 Mile Wilderness by dad, 40, and daughter, 11)
At 5.9 miles on July 1, 2017, this was our lowest mileage day, due to the many river fords, challenging terrain, and the wet conditions.  We left our campsite and hiked to the river ford at Big Wilson Stream (we would also ford Wilber Brook and Vaughn Stream).  We heard a train behind us, well after we had crossed the Montreal, Maine, and Atlantic Railroad right-of-way.
Long Pond Stream was a harrowing crossing, as the rain had swollen the stream into a river, and the trail crossing site consisted of a threadbare rope across rapids.  Dad crossed there, and lost a flip-flop almost immediately.  Daughter crossed upstream, and we were putting our shoes back on when she couldn’t find one of her socks.  We looked back across the torrent, and saw a lone wool sock sitting there on a rock.  Dad waited while daughter crossed and brought it back, the same way she had come before.
(Here is a great post from the Hiking Life on how to ford a river.)
The hike uphill to Long Pond Stream Lean-To was strenuous, and we were both impressed by the river gorge below us on the way up.  We had agreed to alternate planning our route/stopping point each day, so we got into our first real trail argument over where we would try to make it.  Daughter was tough, and enthusiastic about trying to make it to Cloud Pond Lean-To (4 miles up Barren Mountain past Long Pond Stream Lean-To).  Due to the darkening clouds and the lateness in the day, dad proposed Long Pond Stream.
A helpful Appalachian Trail volunteer ambassador unwittingly resolved our dispute when we met her headed down the trail in the opposite direction.  She told us that there was not much good water available on the mountain peaks, and that the weather made Long Pond a better destination tonight.  We pulled into the Long Pond Stream Lean-To area shortly thereafter, greeted the people in the lean-to, and looked for a level campsite.  We found one uphill, and set up our tent just in time, as the rain began coming down hard, and many other people arrived, looking for places to pitch tents.  Dad had Chili Mac for dinner, and daughter had Chicken Teriyaki.  Thunderstorms and hard rain all night.  When daughter saw dad’s pruny, swollen feet at the end of the day, she said they looked like “a princess’s worst nightmare.”
In the same vein, the hike today was a wet slog, and the only pictures we took were of some interesting mushrooms on the side of a tree, which were surrounded by slugs.

100 Mile Wilderness, Day 1 (Monson to Thompson Brook)

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100 Mile Wilderness, Day 1 (Monson to Thompson Brook)
(Note: this is part one of a multi-part series on the summer 2017 attempt at the 100 Mile Wilderness by dad, 40, and daughter, 11)
On June 30, 2017, we began our 100 Mile Wilderness attempt at the trailhead off Route 15 in Monson, dropped off by grandfather.  Our plan was for mom or grandfather to pick us up at Abol Bridge in ten days.  Before we left home in southern Maine (very early) daughter and dad each weighed our packs/ourselves, and discovered that hers was around thirty pounds, and dad’s about fifty-five.  We missed the parking lot, had to turn around, and saw a male and female cedar waxwing staring at us from the guardrail, which we took as a good sign.
Around 8 AM, grandfather took a picture of us, and we started north into the 100 Mile Wilderness after signing into the trail log.  We read the sign, which said, “THERE ARE NO PLACES TO OBTAIN SUPPLIES OR GET HELP UNTIL ABOL BRIDGE 100 MILES NORTH. DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS SECTION UNLESS YOU HAVE A MINIMUM OF 10 DAYS SUPPLIES AND ARE FULLY EQUIPPED.  THIS IS THE LONGEST WILDERNESS SECTION OF THE ENTIRE A.T. AND ITS DIFFICULTY SHOULD NOT BE UNDERESTIMATED.  GOOD HIKING! M.A.T.C.”
Shortly into the trip, dad slipped on two separate rocks, and cut the heel of his left hand and the pinkie of his right hand badly.  We agreed that hiking poles would have been helpful in the slippery conditions.
100 Mile Wilderness, Day 1 (Monson to Thompson Brook)
We traversed our first beaver dam, and we both marveled at the ingenuity of these small creatures.  At Leeman Brook Lean-To, we saw our first A.T. Shelter, and took a snack break, opening our peanut butter M&M’s.  We saw our first bear scat on the trail, as well as moose droppings everywhere, and a garter snake sunning itself on the trail.  We stopped briefly to talk to a (male) southbound thru-hiker whose trail name was “Starlight,” which daughter got a big kick out of.
Our first ford of the trip was Little Wilson Stream, which was challenging with the swift current and two heavy packs.  Dad went across, then came back for his pack, then for daughter’s pack, a sequence we repeated on all the fords that followed.
Little Wilson Falls
Little Wilson Falls.
This ford followed Little Wilson Falls (6.6 mi), an impressive 60′ waterfall where we took the obligatory “waterfall selfie” together.  There were also very attractive campsites surrounding Little Wilson Stream.
Big Wilson Cliffs
Big Wilson Cliffs.
After crossing Big Wilson Cliffs, we started looking for a good campsite, as we had a big ford coming up of Big Wilson Stream (9.7 mi), and we did not want to attempt it at the end of a long, rainy day.  We found a great spot at the intersection of Big Wilson Stream and Thompson Brook, 9.2 miles past our start, and soaked our feet in the cold water.
Camp set-up took the form it ended up taking the next several nights: we would both pitch the tent, and daughter would take care of the inside set-up/sleeping arrangements while dad hung up the bear bag and prepared our dinners.  We saw a bald eagle near our campsite, and we both had chili mac for dinner to celebrate our first day on the trail.  We started reading “A Walk in The Woods” by Bill Bryson under the light of the solar-powered lantern our friends had given us, and dad quickly learned how to edit dialog on the fly to make it child-appropriate.