Date: 2004-10-01
From: Frye Notch Lean-to

To: Campsite near East B Hill Road
Miles today: 4.5

It was another beautiful day today. The weather has been perfect since we¢ve been in Maine, even though we¢ve just hit October. The Maine citizens I¢ve talked to said that they received all their rain in July and August and have had their summer in September and, hopefully, October. A plus of walking slow. It was an easy hike down to the road, but County still thinks I¢m moving too slow. I am, I guess, moving slower than I have in the past. I¢m not sure why. The emotional and psychological pressure of hiking in what¢s considered ¢harder¢ terrain is wearing on me more than the physical reality of hiking it, I think. Plus the cumulative effect of all the emotional and physical pressure of the trail. I continue to press on, but more slowly. Speed just doesn¢t seem as important. That¢s hard for County, who is a very fast hiker. It¢s hard in general adjusting to anyone else¢s pace. It¢s just as hard for him to hike slowly to keep pace with me as it would be for me to hike fast to keep pace with him. It¢s hard for me to understand that. We had a long talk about it in the sun by Dunn Notch Falls, a gorgeous spot. The real question, I suppose, is whether it¢s worth it for both of us to compromise in order to hike with the other. I suppose that¢s the question in any relationship on or off the trail.The trail just puts it into sharper relief. It¢s worth it for me, but then again, I¢m doing less of the compromising right now. It becomes a more and more question as our plans for hiking the PCT next year firm up. Is he really going to be able to put up with my tortoise-like pace for another 2800 miles? I don¢t know. He thinks I could just push myself harder. And I probably could. Things are especially tough right now because we¢re so low on food. A caloric deficit makes every problem an emotional minefield. We missed a mail drop in Gorham, half on purpose, because we had so much food coming out of the Whites. But taking so long to get through the Mahoosucs means we have no food reserve at all right now. We forwarded the mail drop to Rangeley, so it¢s on the way, but in the meantime we¢ve been starving. Not today, though.We hitched from East B Hill Road to Andover, eight miles. A nice man from the Maine Department of Transportation. My first Maine local! A really nice guy, too. If I had imagined the archetypal Maine town before arriving in one, I would have pictured Andover. There¢s a general store, a diner, and a gazebo at the town crossroads, and not much else. We went and carefully invested in resupply at the general store, which was little more than a convenience store. And being very careful of our budget, all we could afford was three meals worth of mac-and-cheese, some ramen, Little Debbies, and a twenty-cent bag of dried-up split peas from the bargain bin. We splurged on lunch at the diner, though, and over burgers, pie, and heaping plates of fries, things didn¢t seem nearly as bad as they had on the trail. Coming out into the sun, after making our requisite phone calls, we encountered who else but Paddy-O and Skinny, whom we had last seen when they had given us a ride in Hanover. They were kind enough to give us the ride back to the trail. We were sad to miss the renowned hostel in Andover, which the budget didn¢t allow room for. We had half intended to hike on, but instead, arriving back at the trail at about dusk, found a gorgeous campsite on a side trail and built a huge fire. We didn¢t even have to cook anything because we were still full from our lunch. Sitting in front of the fire, bellies full, together, companions in arms, nothing seems hard. Life is good, the trail is good. We¢ll work out this pace thing. We¢ll get to Katahdin.