Date: 2009-08-17
From: US 2 (Gorham, NH)

To: stealth near Mt. Hayes
Miles today: 3.0

The owner of the hostel drove me and one of the southbounders into town, where I had breakfast and then went to the drugstore to buy a new memory card (for $40!). I saw Carpenter and Double Zip sitting outside the post office, and they informed me that Braid was waiting for the library to open up at 10 and that I¢d find him there. I headed over and went inside to find two small, separate computer closets. I looked in the first one. Not behind door #1. I knew, therefore, that he was behind door # 2 and called out his name before poking my head inside. He greeted me with a hug and the other guy came out to say that he was glad I finally met up with Braid, as he had been talking about me all morning! Because there were people waiting for the computers and each person was only allotted 30 minutes, I didn¢t want to use any of his computer time, so I hung out in the main room for a bit, and then decided to go back to the hostel. It was so hot already, however, that I felt like a smoothie to cool me down! There was a caf© on the same side street that the library was on, but unfortunately, they did not have smoothies. So, I sat down and ordered a mamosa and a grilled blueberry muffin! Then, to my surprise, Braid walked in and sat down across from me and we had a chance to catch up a bit. He was waiting for his next 30 minute time slot on the computer and was determined to stay there all day, if he had to, in order to finish his next journal installment. He agreed that it was getting harder and harder to write them, as we didn¢t have much as much access to computers as we did in the south. Plus, we were very tired!    I decided to walk back to the hostel even though it took over half an hour. The sun was beating down and all I wanted to do was jump in the pool! I saw Judy, riding her bike, and she got off to walk the remaining yards with me to the hostel. If I learned one thing from watching ¢Survivor¢, it was how to turn a buff into a tubetop-makeshift swimsuit, so that is what I did, and I had the pool all to myself! Ah, the life of a thru-hiker is so tough! Being in the water was so relaxing and refreshing. I dried out in the sun and then went back to the 87 degree bunkroom to pack up my things. (It felt like it was 100 degrees outside!) At 4:30, I received a call from Braid, letting me know that he and a few other hikers were going to get together for dinner at 6:00 in town. Part of me wanted to go, but another part of me wanted to get on the trail again. I didn¢t think it was worth it to spend another hot night in the bunkroom. I would be cooler in my hammock. And I didn¢t need to spend more money on a town dinner, either.   So, after the owner dropped me back off at the trailhead, where I left off, I started the road walk portion of my hike until I reached the woods and another climb. Mentally, I kept thinking that I was in Maine, and I thought the terrain had changed accordingly. I also began to see lots of frogs, including a dart frog (and now I know why they are called that!). I did not see the brook that was listed in my guidebook, however, and wished I had carried out more water with me. I always want to sleep where I have a potential view of the sunrise, but it is surprising how few of these I have seen on my hike. I kept walking and walking, but as darkness fell, I was still in the woods, and had to settle into the trees again for the night.