Date: 2009-09-20
From: ME 15 (Monson, ME)

To: ME 15 (Monson, ME)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: clear sky

The Lakeshore House Hostel is a great place to stay in Monson. Shaw's, the other hostel, is very nice also. You can't go wrong with either. I went to Shaw's for breakfast this morning .... AYCE for $7 .... awesome french toast .... wow! Back to the Lakeshore House .... very comfortable, and you can't beat the convenience .... 2 minutes from the Post Office and 3 minutes from the General Store. There is a pub and restaurant right in the Lakeshore House, as well as a 24-hour laundromat. Oh yeah, kayak and canoe use free for guests. It sits on a big lake and there is an outdoor patio right on the lake. There is a computer for Internet access in the hostel. Glad I stayed here. Very nice "zero day". The bonus was that today was Sunday so I got to sit around and watch NFL football all day! OK. To some more thoughts I have been having about the Appalachian Trail. Before I went on this hike, I thought it was a bad idea to start out with other people, expecting to make it the entire way together. I had read in many journals that it didn't work out so well. This trip has changed my mind though. I witnessed so many people starting and ending their hike together:Sunbeam + Halfmoon; Mudslide + Pudgie Pie; Mr. Right + Plunger; Newt + Scarlett; Top Shelf + Gezza; Storm + Rocket + ?; Skittles + Moonwalker + No Nails; and I'm sure I'll think of some others.I think it would be important to talk about possibilities prior to the hike. For instance, Crazy Lady, Patches, and Patches' wife all started out together. Patches' wife couldn't shake her fear of snakes and left the Trail after about 600 miles (pretty good hike!). But they had made an agreement prior to the hike that if someone got off the Trail, the others would continue on. Crazy Lady and Patches will summit around 1 Oct (my guesstimate).So grab your hiking partner and go!I know I would not have enjoyed the hike nearly as much without the people I had met, and hiked with, along the way. Mudslide and Pudgie Pie got me through the starting days. Mr Buffalo Man, Sunnuke and Goof lifted my spirits through times like Carver's Gap when I felt like going home. The Group (Scarlett, Newt, Squeegie, Half-Moon, Sunbeam, Mississippi) made hiking so much fun! And Lunch Box and Star Trek made the last couple of months relaxing and fun! There were a couple of times I hiked alone, like when I had the flu, but I knew that was temporary. I don't like large amounts of people, but I do like social contact. I don't think I could do a long-distance hike without others around. People just make it more enjoyable.Next thought: I've whined about the lack of computer resources along the Trail needed for journaling (the way that I do it). There are many more efficient ways to journal than the way I did. Having said that, I'm glad I did it the way that I did. I like having the hardcopy journals that I wrote in each day in a form that I can pull off a bookshelf some day when I'm 90 and can hardly walk! And I wanted to do the journals personally. The journals that other hikers posted for the last 10 years inspired me to be out here!! I felt I had a debt I owed to Trail Journals, and previous hikers that posted journals, and I thought the best way to repay that debt would be to post a journal myself .... and I wanted to do it personally .... it was MY debt. As communication networks and devices continue to expand and improve (and get lighter/smaller), it will be easier each year for future hikers to post journals. By the way, my support staff and I are having technical difficulties with the remaining 1000 pictures that need posted .... but they'll get there. Sorry they're not there while you're reading .... especially for the White Mountains. Hopefully you'll go back and take a look!!