Date: 2005-08-29
From: The Cabin in Maine, E. Andover, ME

To: The Cabin (East Andover, Maine) 4:41pm - Come Toge
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

The Cabin (East Andover, Maine) 4:41pm - Come TogetherPhoenix and I climbed into her car on a rainy morning yesterday. Our destination was Pinkham Notch. We stopped off at the Bethel and Gorham outfitters en route to attend to some miscellaneous items. While in Gorham we swung by The Barn to see who was in. It was a far cry from when I was present less than a week ago. Sam-I-Am and Origami were still there but heading out soon but a whole sea of familiar faces rounded out the crowd - Gozar, Wilderness Bob, and Apple Pie were all there, and we just missed Vapors. Gozar was feeling sick and had been there three days; Phoenix gave him and Bob a ride to a nearby motel. She then shuttled Apple Pie and her friend Prune Pirate (male) to the grocery store before we continued another ten miles and change to Pinkham Notch, excluding our unexpected side trip the wrong way into Berlin.It was a rainy, miserable day at the Visitor center. I scanned the trail register - Live Strong had passed through the same day that I had and Dandy Lion had been by the following day. I appeared to be just ahead of a great many people that I knew. Phoenix ran into a girl named Skirt who finished a section hike earlier this fall and is now working for the AMC. She had passed through the Cabin and we all chatted while waiting. By 3pm I'd read the description of every book in the gift shop and could recite the order in which the t-shirts were on the rack. I'd seen a very wet Patch come down off the mountain with several nobos I didn't know and also swapped greetings with Mile Skinner last seen in Glencliff. But the story was always the same: nobody knew where the guys were.I called up to Mt Washington in a final attempt to track them down. A park ranger scanned the register and found their signatures three days ago, on the 25th, and including a note from Professor that they planned to continue the next day. There was no way they'd be in Pinkham Notch. All signs indicated that they'd be in Gorham instead. Crazy Legs often says one location and means another and it had happened again.We headed back to Gorham and a message from Crazy Legs the previous night mysteriously appeared on Phoenix's phone. In it he mentioned Gorham. He then called us confirming his location. He'd been in for two hours but the others weren't to be seen. We checked the trailhead and found three wet hikers hitching in: Low Bridge, Professor, and Ug. Bridge's first words to me were, "You couldn't wait two hours, could you?" It was good to see them again.We all hung out around Hiker's Paradise, another hostel/motel in Gorham, while everybody cleaned up and did their laundry. The place was crawling with nobos - Mayfly, Circuit Rider, Sherlock, Spike and Hopper, Noodle, Newhart, and LB were all present and accounted for. We briefly visited Gozar to wish him well before going to Mr. Pizza for dinner. We'd been seated for about twenty or thirty minutes when a tall figure suddenly filled the doorframe - Skywalker! After hiking nearly alone for so long I could scarcely comprehend the sheer number of hikers that were in town.The night was spent around the motel, swapping stories of the last two months and just generally catching up. We continued this morning over a simple, complimentary breakfast and a resupply trip. We even formulated a plan for reuniting. I'm going to hike slowly, taking three days to reach Rangely. I'm going to near zero out of town. Meanwhile, they're going to haul hard, including a 21 mile slack while in Andover. We hope to rendezvous Friday in Rangeley or at the shelter two miles north of town. We're getting the band back together!Phoenix dropped everyone off at the trail around noon. We picked up Mayfly and set out for Andover. She's meeting some people at Abol Bridge in about three weeks and is behind schedule. Rather than suffer and do long miles she'll skip a stretch and make it up after summiting. But tonight she'll be at The Cabin.We returned to find evidence that Red Wing and Hopeful are still around. They did a 10 mile slack and arrived back at The Cabin shortly after us. I spent the afternoon lazing about and napping. I haven't been hiking for the last few days, but they've been busy days nonetheless. Still, I'm itching to get hiking again. Four more days till the rendezvous!