S-2016-9-17
Start:
Spencer Lake
End:
Campsite closest to outlet of Attean Pond.
Windy as hell.
On the
Way: Spencer Lake, Fish Pond, Hardscrabble Road Portage (~6mi) Moose River, Attean
Pond
Miles: ~23.5. Milepost: ~515. God, I miss my Book.
Weather: Mostly sunny, some clouds when it mattered,
now in a really windy cover on the pond…
Map: 10
 |
| Attean Pond, right before getting into Wood Pond near Jackman. Via Google Maps. |
No dice on the Book being left behind conveniently at the
dam. The official guidebook is such a
pale substitution. It makes me want to
hurl it into the fire pit every time I try to get useful information out of it
and instead encounter some inane description of paddling on flatwater, or that
hateful term “riffles.” It’s like they
told their cadre of editors, “Try and come up with a different flowery,
frivolous way to say ‘paddle the damn river’ every time the occasion presents
itself.” It’s so bad. There’s no other explanation for how we get
phrases like “The love-whine of the moose cow in September is a treat you won’t
soon forget.” (That is an exact quote,
or at least a very close paraphrase.)
Puh-lease. Meanwhile I’m sitting
here high and dry without mileage estimates.
I’m also wondering if if my short and sweet paddle into Jackman Landing
tomorrow will be a nice wide paddle, like the Moose River has been these past 7
miles, or a battle against beaver and bracken, as was the exit stream from Fish
Pond with ZERO indication from map or guidebook.
Sigh. I miss The
Book. I know I only have 3 maps and ~200
miles to go, but I would happily buy a new copy just to have Katina’s advice on
hand for those.
Thus, the gameplan.
I was planning for a zero-mile day around Jackman, anyway, and today’s
Sunday, so perhaps this is opportune.
I’ll paddle into town, get there before noon, pick up my box (yay, cozy
clothes, GORP, and couscous!), check the library hours, find some power and
wifi and get my Internetting done, call home, pack my box up for the last time
and send it home, find some postcards and write them, find a PEN [past two
entries were written in crumbly #2 pencil], and maybe treat myself to an ice
cream. That way, when the PO opens
tomorrow, I can send off the box right away.
Also, I can check the library and any local outfitters to see if they
have a copy of The Book to scan.
Otherwise, I could call up Ecolohoohaw, that store I befriended in
Rangely, and see if they could send a copy up along further on the trail for me
to intercept. To Rockwood maybe, or maybe
the next town along. Another address to
research. Yay, logistics. Just goes to show: it’s never just
about paddling…
Things
Learned:
+ My wind principle holds, but there was no non-windy site
to relocate to last night. I set up the
tarp as a wind screen rather than a dew cover, and it worked like a charm.
+ Wind also made things creepier
in general, because you can’t hear, and paranoia turns any little noise into a
critter in the night.
Trail
Magic:
+ Two old Maine guys passed me in a pickup truck on
Hardscrabble Road yesterday, on my 5 mile portage from Fish Pond to the Moose
River. They offered a lift and
water. Neither called me a “brave girl,”
which I sincerely appreciated.
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