Today I saw my first mythical beast of the hike. No, not a unicorn, or a phoenix, or even a gryphon. I saw a moose! Ok, ok, it is not mythical, but try to convince Heather of that! She grew up and lived in NH for almost 25 years but never saw a moose, and claims that they don’t exist. :)

Rockhound and I had gotten on the trail at 9:30am, suffered through the heat and humidity and then taken a lunch break/siesta for 2.5 hours. I slipped for the umpteenth time on the rocks and landed heavily (tough to land lightly with a 35lb. pack) but was really looking forward to reaching the shelter. But first we reached Moss pond.

A cow moose of perhaps 500 – 600 lbs was hanging out in the middle of the pond, feeding on the aquatic plants. Rockhound and I dropped our packs and took pictures and hung around to watch—it was his first moose. The moose called a couple of times and Rockhound answered well enough that the moose started walking/swimming over to us! She got within 50 ft. repeatedly exchanging calls with Rockhound before detouring, getting out of the pond and heading into the woods. This was a very cool encounter!

Skyline, Sundance, and Einstein are here tonight as well as section hikers Truck and Ameoeba. Tomorrow morning we cross into Maine and will likely make our way through Mahoosuc Notch, the reputed ” hardest mile on the trail.” Just 5 more days until I see Heather and Tally in Rangeley and get to show Heather that moose DO exist!