night at Whitehouse we saw two fishermen heading out with just their poles and a dog who indicated to me that he really didn't like me and given his druthers would like very much to sample my ankle. On the third day from Whitehouse to Piseco we saw nobody. On the fourth day we stopped for a break at the first Spruce Lake lean-to that we got to and while there met a very nice couple in their mid fifties who were heading south and wanted to stay at this particular lean-to for the night. Two lean-tos farther north we found two boys in their teens enjoying the fishing and the cool breeze off Spruce Lake. We camped that night near Sampson's Bog Outlet. Day five we found two retired gentlemen in the middle Cedar Lake lean-to equipped to stay for a long time. They had a canoe and numerous 5 gallon buckets. One was a veteran of four end-to-end hikes of the N-P. We moved on through the rain to the last Cedar Lake lean-to. After dark one very wet lady wandered in and asked us if there were other lean-tos like this. We told her of the fishermen and said we didn't know the state of the lean-to at the other end of the lake. We asked how many were in her group. She said "Too many." And disappeared into the dark rainy night. The next day we hiked 18.8 miles through rain and other wet stuff to Stephens Pond lean-to, aside from a group of boy scouts at Wakely dam (who by our rules don't count) we saw nobody on the trail. The 18-mile trudge set up a short stroll to Lake Durant. We saw nobody on that stretch either.  We were able to get a site at the campground for two nights. We went to town to do laundry, jockey cars and get something to eat at the Oak Barrel. The next day we hiked with light daypacks over the ridge to Long Lake. We caught and passed a group of four women having lunch. We'd been chasing them for the better part of 8 days. They had skipped the road section from Northville to Upper Benson on the Saturday when both groups started out. Nearly to the road in Long Lake we passed a group of six young people - we said a polite hello to each other and passed on. On day 9 we started in at Long Lake and encountered a very friendly woman hiking out. She struck up a conversation and acted as if she knew us - we didn't have a clue who she was and spent a good part of the day in speculation. Much farther in after passing Shattuck clearing in the rain we found the first Cold River lean-to occupied by a large group of teen to college aged kids (6 or 8 in the group) we saw them cooling off in the river as we crossed the bridge. A polite wave and we moved on finally arriving at Seward lean-to for the night. Day 10 was Seward lean-to to Moose Pond lean-to.  At Duck Hole both lean-tos were crowded. We spoke briefly to two of the people in the lean-to nearest the bridge, exchanging itineraries