Date: 2007-09-13
From: Carlo Col lean-to

To: U.S. 2/Gorham
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: scattered clouds

What a restless night, the majority of which was spent clinching my ass cheeks together in an effort not to shit myself again. Since I had run out of toilet paper (when it rains it fucking pours, eh?), I didn't want to use the outhouse and put regular paper in it. I packed up around 6:30, skipped breakfast (because why add fuel to the fire), and scooted up the side trail a quarter mile to dig a much-needed hole. I tore a bunch of pages from the back of my journal and evacuated my bowels with a vengeance. Forgive me Leave No Trace gods, but desperate times call for desperate measures and leaves just weren't going to do the trick this time. Feeling better, I hit the AT, putting my camera battery in my pocket, hoping that a little body heat in the 1/2-mile to the border would provide enough juice to get some border pictures. To my delight, it worked. I was able to snap two pictures en route to crossing into New Hampshire before my camera told me to go fuck myself. I made it to Gentian Pond incident free and ate some oatmeal before pushing on. I felt another movement knocking fiercely on the door, but I managed to clinch my cheeks and held that baby the entire way to U.S. 2. I got a hitch within 15 minutes and was let out at the post office. By this time my bowels were calming down and I picked up my two boxes and headed down the road to find a place to crash for the night. I decided to check out Hiker's Paradise on the edge of town. In 2000, I stayed at the Barn but had heard good things about Hiker's Paradise so I decided to check it out this year. That hostel has certainly seen better days. It had a working toilet, though, so I really didn't care about anything else. I showered, went to the gas station for some vitamin water and a gallon of spring water, and proceeded to flush the midget out of my system. Score another one for the midget. As I was chilling on the porch, I tried to let out a fart and proceeded to drop another deuce in my drawers. Good lord, I sure hope this clears up before I hit the trail again. I cleaned up, drank some more water, and having decided it wasn't safe to venture out into town, I had a pizza and turkey sub delivered to the hostel. It was quite a dilemma ordering that much food. On the one hand I was starving and needed the calories. On the other, shitting myself twice in two days was quite a deterrent, but the desire for food won out and I wolfed everything down. I plan on spending most of the day tomorrow arranging my gear, going to the library, and prepping for the whites before getting a late start back on trail. It's supposed to rain Saturday and then clear up so hopefully I'll get some good views in the whites. I'm looking forward to getting through and then putting in some decent miles in Vermont. Much to my surprise, Ragnar and Highlife showed up that night to check the place out. I think they skipped some miles to get there, but whatever, it was good to see them. They checked the place over and decided to head to a motel up the road. They said Spyder was probably going to roll in tomorrow and Otter maybe a day behind him. Maybe I'll see Spyder on my way out of town.