Date: 2020-09-19
From: US 2 (Gorham)

To: Gorham
Miles today: 0.0

Cold night - the Barn, an old carriage house, is unheated so the 23 degree night seeped in. Wore my puffy while enjoying a lazy morning around the hostel. Walked over to the hardware store / outfitter to look for better gloves. Strolled up and down the town's main drag past a large park, a tourist center advertising moose tours, and a moose-themed mini golf. Lots of ATVs, Polaris, and other 4-wheel drives growled by on the road, heading for the local trails. Hung out with hostel mate Hercules, the accidental thruhiker. He's spent the better part of a week in Gorham, and hiking nearby, waiting on shipments of cold weather gear from home. He finally got them, plus more food than he can eat, and is hiking out tomorrow.I talked with the family over zoom. It's been a month since I returned to the trail and I'll be back home in a few weeks. While I love seeing their faces and hearing their stories, it's hard not being able to reach out and hug them. A little diversion helped my home sickness. The town library hosted a bagpipe performance in the park as a fundraiser. The fellow was decked out like a highlander and was truly skilled. He played a variety of both classic Scottish tunes as well as some patriotic and popular melodies. I've never seen anything like it.Paul took me over to Walmart where I amazingly found hiking pants - synthetic, breathable, and stretchable. From Wrangler no less. What a find! This cold snap has been too much for my strategy of wearing shorts all day. Gloves were a lesser success - they hadn't yet received their shipment of men's gloves - odd, since they usually start selling bathing suits in January and winter coats in July - so all I could find was a large pair of boys' ski gloves. Better than my knit gloves which sport multiple holes.Back at the hostel an elderly couple dropped by to visit. They turned out to be the previous owners of the property and founders of the hostel. Maggie and her husband "Dreamcatcher" owned the house for over twenty years and opened the hostel in 1985. Maggie, a Boston radiologist, started it fortuitously by allowing a cold, wet young hiker to sleep in the barn one evening while they were restoring the house. Word spread and more hikers showed up each year. They had all kinds of stories. There was the hiker who wouldn't leave - always had one excuse or another - until after three weeks they had to give him the boot. They'd frequently host 40 or more tents in the yard, until the town told them the front yard was off-limits. They eventually moved south for work - Dreamcatcher is a teacher - and haven't been back for fifteen years. I'm lucky to have been there today to hear a bit of trail lore and history.Two new hikers came in for the night. Amazing is a highly energetic middle-aged woman who seems about to burst with enthusiasm. She has a complicated hike she calls a triple flop which seems to have started in New York. Recently she ran out of food in Vermont, was given vegetables by a farmer, and slept in someone's barn. She got a ride from Hanover to Gorham in Odie's school bus (the Hiker Yearbook guy). She's had eleven surgeries and wants to help other hikers learn self-care, both physically and spiritually. Paul also brought in a girl named Ryan who's been hiking south from Monson through the Whites with a friend. Her hiking buddy is visiting Burlington for a couple days. She was fairly quiet but hungry, went to bed early, and was still sleeping when I left the next day. Thanks to the new arrivals Paul lost a bet with his cousin (who runs the B&B side) that there wouldn't be any more hikers this season.Tonight is going to be another unseasonably cold night, and tomorrow morning promises to be freezing. But I'll be hiking out regardless.