Date: 2005-09-16
From: Caribou Valley Rd.

To: Maine Hwy. 27
Miles today: 8.3

start Caribou Valley Rd.destination Maine Hwy.27miles 8.3It is not god to go into a grocery store when you are hungry and especially not good to go into a grocery store after hiking all day.For two days in a row Sue had asked us if we neded to stop by the store on the way back to the hostel.The temtation was too great and we said yes each time.That gave us enough food to feed a smal army,so this morning I got up and fixed breakfast for the hikers here.It was Papermaker,Africa,Swinging Jane and myself.With the assortment of food items we had I managed to fix scrambled eggs,fried potatos,ham,toast,pancakes and orange juice.At least we will not have to carry all this food out of here when we leave,should we ever decide to leave!It was still overcast and damp this morning when we got onto the trail.We had two major climbs,both South Crocker Mountain and North Crocker Mountian.By mid morning the sun was peeking through and the rocks were drying up.Once again we made good time.We stopped at the summit of North Crocker Mountain for a br!eak and Papermaker discovered he had left his glasses back on the summit of South Crocker Mountain.It was only a mile bac,but no amount of persuasion would get him to hike back to retrieve them.This is not the first time he has laid then down and forgotten to pick them up again,but it is the longest time he has gone before remembering that he laid them down.We left a note in a plastic bag at the summit sign with the information to return the glasses to us should anyone find them.There has been tales of similiar things happening and theitems being returned to the owner by a thoughtful hiker.We can only hope.I was mildly agrravated with him,they were after all a fairly new pair of glasses.I was determined though not to bail him out and go back after them myself.He almost redeemed himself towards the end of the day when he found a patch of fresh Oyster Mushrooms and a huge patch of Hairy Tooth Mushrooms.He carefully carried them the rest of the way to the highway,since we did !not have a paper bag to put them in,and you cannot put them in plasticbags. We got to the road crossing early again.I swear I think Africa is taking us on short cuts.The terrain does not seem near as difficult or the miles as long.It is probably due to having someone to talk to and listen to.Since we were early and could not et in touch with Sue,we decided to try hitch hiking into town which was only 4 miles.Several cars went by but none stopped. Africa looked at a pick up truckthat went by and said"We don't want to sit in the front seat,we can sit in the back,all we want is a ride into town,we don't even need to talk to you."The very next car that came by screeched to a halt to give us a ride.It was a Volvo.So much for riding in the back of a pickup!We decided to eat at the hostel tonight,again using some of the food that we got from the grocery store.I made some tuna salad,and we added some chips for a nice meal.After double checking the information on the mushrooms,we decided that the ones we had were indeed edible so I fixed those to go with our supper. I could not find any cracker for crumb topping for the Oyster Shell Mushroom,but I found some Doritos,and crushed them up into a fine powder for a coating.Africa added some cheese slices for me to make a cheese sauce for the Hairy Tooth.I sauted them in butter and garlic.It was the first time that any of the four of us had ever ate either of these varieties of mushrooms.We washed it all down with a glass of wine that Africa bought.There was a question about whether we would even have the wine to drink since we could not find a cork screw, but between the two macho men,a very large nail and a pair of needle nose pliers the stopper finally conceded defeat. I thought ma!ybe we would just bust the bottle against the door frame and christene the hostel.Africa had went over to rummage through the worker's tools in search of something else to pry the stopper out with ,and just as he came back into the room with an electric drill and a half inch drill bit,Papermaker popped the stopper out. We will all either sleep well or die from indigestion or mushroom poisoning tonight.There is still a conflict within me about how to end this hike.For methere is no sensational climb up Mt.Katahdin.I have been there,done that and I am reasonably sure I do not want to do that again.The logistics of doing the last 30 miles of the Hundred Miles Wilderness are terrible.I have toyed with the iea of hiking to Monson,and calling that my finish.I have walked to Maine.I have walked through 14 states.I have hiked through snow,hail,torrential rains,sunshine,tornados and everything in between.I have not passed every white blaze on the trail,but I have hiked over 2000 miles.I have walked through countless forests,over unumerable mountains,I have seen vistas upon vistas,sunsets,sunrises,and everything in between.I do not need to negate those facts by the fact that I have not passed every single blaze. Bumpkin                           5 Million Steps for PolioAppalachian Trail GA-MA BumpkinMore in 2004