Date: 2011-08-09
From: Rattle River Shelter

To: White Mountains Hostel
Miles today: 1.9

(In which I nero into Gorham)The book describes the trail from the shelter to the road as "gently sloping", and true to the description the 1.9 morning stroll seems to take no time at all. We walk into the hostel an hour before the reported 10am Walmart shuttle. After confirming that we are paying guests, Greg, the proprietor, instructs us to leave our packs and shoes outside in the garage, and to toss anything we want washed into the laundry bin. There is a pile of hostel clothes that we can use while ours wash, but since all of it is much too large for me and I am wearing most of my clothes, I ask when the laundry will be done. Greg shrugs, "By the end of the day." Resigned to do my town chores in oversized clothes, I find a pair of shorts that I could fit three legs into if I had them but that have a tie cord to keep from falling down.We take turns changing in the one nearly blocked off part of the garage, and before we finish Greg comes out to see why we haven't come in to pay yet. "Can we hurry it up here boys?" he asks, so those who have already changed head inside to fill out some paperwork. When I go in he sees my sneakers and shakes his head, so I head back to the garage to remove them.The Walmart shuttle isn't until 11am today it turns out, so we all use the time to shower. Getting clean after a week in the Whites and the rain feels wonderful, even if the extra large shorts lack the comfort of my familiar pair. Next up is the internet, and I have just loaded up Facebook and my brother's photo website (jdstylos.com) when Greg walk by and points out a sign with the internet rules that forbid browsing of social websites or photo-heavy sites to save bandwidth.While we are waiting for the Walmart ride I am surprised and happy to see Freight Train and Plan B walk in, since I had assumed that they were at least a day behind. I quickly find out that I was correct, and that they are simply dropping off food before returning to Pinkham Notch, a good two days behind. Since their ride is waiting in the parking lot we don't get to chat long, and I forget to ask about who else is behind us, but my nero day should put them only one day behind, so I hope to see them again soon.We catch a ride into Walmart with the friendly young hostel employee who waits for us while we shop. Not having had a chance to eat town food yet and concerned about the upcoming terrain and infrequency of towns in Maine, we all buy massive amounts of food. Back at the hostel my food bag weighs in at 12 lbs, a new record, and Marathon's doesn't even come close to fitting in his large food bag, likely weighing about twice as much as mine.As usual, the hostel provides an opportunity to meet a collection of new hikers, and on the porch I meet section hiker Protein Powder when I walk over and pick up a copy of AT Journeys, the ATC magazine with pictures and articles about the trail. "There's a whole magazine about the trail?" he asks incredulously. "I mean, what is there to possibly write about?" At first I'm not sure if he's joking, so I ask him if he really thinks there's nothing to write about the trail. "I mean, maybe ten pages for a whole thru-hike," he says. "But what is there to say? I hiked a lot again today?"I've heard this sentiment expressed several times before, and while I've always dismissed it as a product of a limited imagination, it occurs to me that there may be more to observe from this viewpoint. Those who cannot fathom writing about the AT seem to be hikers whose motivations are not the challenge or the social aspect of the trail, but a small subset of those who walk to seek solitude and simplicity. For those who can only imagine writing that they hiked all day, I speculate, much of the attraction of hiking is that very simplicity of focus in which all other concerns and activities are set aside and all that is left is hiking. I get some small confirmation of this theory when I overhear Protein Powder rejecting the "thru-hiker" label, since he started in Delaware Watergap. "I just felt like I needed to out for a walk," he says, "and the AT seemed as good a place to walk as any."I spend the rest of the day resting, socializing and eating, and like most neros and zeros in town, the hours seem to slip away before I know it. It's a strange but not unpleasant sensation to realize that I've just spent another day of relaxing in town, and I wonder how many more such days I'll have on the trail, and how much I'll miss them once I finish.