Marble Brook to Pleasant Pond Lean To – 18 miles

One amazing part about hiking alone is how much more I notice the sounds around me.

Walking along, I hear more critters scurrying through the understory and more of the bird song overhead. Pausing on an uphill I became aware of the wind rustling the aspen leaves. On my snack break at Moxie Bald lean to a loon called across the pond and I heard the swoosh of two fishermen casting their lines. A squirrel must not have heard me coming because it let me approach much closer than if I’d been chatting away with someone else.

After a while I got bored of listening to the click-click-click of my trekking poles. I filled the quiet with some Grateful Dead jams and powered up Moxie Bald. Some hikers took the alternate route that bypasses the summit, but I climbed to the very top for the simple joy of standing on top of a big pile of rocks. I sat on the peak in complete silence, which is so uncommon in everyday life.

It’s a Saturday night and the sounds of powerboats, boom boxes, fireworks, and drunken chatter from a nearby beach party echo across Pleasant Pond to my lean to, where I am camped alone.