8/2/03 We met two SoBos, Breeze and ???, who warned us about Gould Brook, an upcoming stream heavily swollen by the rains. Instead of a rock hop across, we'd need to ford it. We hiked on anxiously anticipating the stream at every turn. The trail beneath our feet turned into a continuous stream of racing water. The roar of Gould Brook kept getting closer and louder as the trail wound us slowly and dramatically toward it. When we finally got there we were stunned by the width of the stream, the depth of the water, and the force of the current. We discussed what we remembered from our readings on stream fording, took off our shoes and socks, tied them around our necks, gripped our poles, and stepped into the icy waters. The current was so strong we could hardly hang onto our poles. We faced into the current and inched our way across, looking for places to put our feet without getting them wedged between large slippery rocks. The water rose over our mid-calves as we got further across and our toes became numb. We had to lean steadily into the current to keep from getting knocked off balance. Tumble lead the way shouting reassurances and tips to Rough. It took us about 10 minutes to get across and we reached the other side safe and exhilarated.