Date: 2014-07-27
From: Carlson's Lodge

To: Zero Day 13: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0

We woke up this morning with a tough decision to make due to predicted thunderstorms in the area - do we risk taking the train up to the summit and getting caught on exposed ridges in a thunderstorm or do we jump ahead to Gorham since we had reservations at White Mountains Lodging and Hostel? A tough call to make but since we were able to change the date of the cog train tickets we decided to get a ride to Gorham - it was not worth the risk of walking ten miles of exposed ridges after Mt. Washington with weather coming in.Turns out we made the wrong call on the weather though - it rained for two hours and then cleared up most of the day until late evening - we might have made it through untroubled but you never know.We called a shuttler by the name of Golden Waldo to shuttle us from Carlson's to White Mountains Hostel - he turned out to be a very nice older fellow who is very talkative and has lots of good stories. He section hiked the AT and loves shuttling and talking with hikers - and his shuttle rides are pretty inexpensive! It was an entertaining ride over to Gorham - today is turning out to be another zero day.Marni met us outside and after getting over a little confusion (she thought we were coming in last night - more on that shortly) we got settled in to the hostel and into beds. From the get go the White Mountains Hostel was awesome! Marni does a great job running the hostel and everything is set up to meet hiker needs. Loaner clothes to wear while laundry is being done - a nice living room area with a big TV and Netflix - multiple showers and bunkrooms with all the important amenities - very friendly staff (Marni and her family are awesome!) - shuttle to Walmart in the evening (for free) - all at a pretty reasonable price for a hostel this far north!Cleaned up and in new clothes we spent the day relaxing - watched some comedy specials on Netflix (Git R Done!) and old friends came to the hostel throughout the day! Ran into many people we have not seen in a while - turned out to be an AT Family Reunion! Throughout the day we ran into the following people: Purple Blaze (last seen sometime after Damascus), Chops (seen somewhere in Vermont), Captain (ran into him near Mt. Washington), Chocolate and Cheese (last seen at Glencliff), Shroomer (last seen way long ago in North Carolina at Muskrat Creek Shelter), Hass (who was hiking with Pippin - last seen in Erwin), DFI (military guy hiking with Mambo - last seen in Erwin), Tigger (blazed past us near Dalton), and Twizzler (last seen in Virginia)! It was great catching up with old friends - Shroomer had gotten off trail to help his wife and the last time we saw him was 127 days ago. Glad to see Hass was doing well and still on trail - I hardly recognized him and standing in the bunkroom next to him he hit me in the stomach and I didn't know who it was - until he spoke to me and then it clicked! I was like "Who is this guy hitting me?!" and then I remembered! Purple Blaze had taken some time off and we actually passed her walking down from Mt. Washington but we didn't think it was her - we thought she was way ahead of us still! Amazing how the trail keeps bringing friends back together - gotta love it!When the rain never materialized for the full day I was kinda bummed about missing a good day for hiking - running into so many old friends and having time to catch up with them erased that feeling quickly! Good times resupplying at Walmart and eating delivery pizza around the table - so many conversations going on but it all worked out!So glad we changed the plan - White Mountains Hostel was a great place to stay and be with old friends!