Date: 2011-08-13
From: Stealth spot off of a horse path in Andover, ME

To: Stealth spot off of a horse path in Andover, ME, day 2
Miles today: 10.0
Weather: overcast clouds

(In which I hike ten miles and then hitch back to Andover for some more food)I wake up to morning dew by the river, but a little condensation seems like a small downside when compared with a warm and wind free night. We pack up our wet tents and head back to the restaurant for another round of food.Waiting for our food, we browse through the local paper and read about a 63 year old section hiker on the AT who slipped, hit his head on a rock and died yesterday. After being surrounded by so many falls and injuries, it is sobering to realize just how dangerous the slick sections of trail can be.Sherpa and Sprout come into the restaurant for breakfast, having stayed at the High Five Hostel, and after breakfast we all try to hitch back to the trail together. Hitching in a group of five is usually not the best idea, and here that again proves to be the case. After a little more than an hour of waiting we decide to split up, and that's when a pickup truck pulls over and tell us to pile in the back.Back on the trail we return to the steep ups and downs we have come to expect from Maine, and meet a MATS trail crew building a new set of stone steps up one of the hills. The crew is proud of having the reputation that the worst sections of the MATC-maintained trail are better than the best sections of AMC-maintained trail, although comparing oneself to the AMC in any regard is setting the standard awfully low in my opinion. I ask if there are any plans for the treacherous approach up the east peak of Baldpate, and am surprised to learn that the trail club's mandate is not, primarily, to improve trail for hikers, but rather to help prevent erosion. While erosion control is also a worthy goal, I think that the north is in sore need of its own Bob Peoples to help make hikers' lives better.After ten miles we get to the second road, and while there is time to hike on, Doc Boom and I are content with calling it a day if we can get a ride back into town. Trashcan, still relatively new to the slow-ish train, can't bear the thought of another low-mileage day and decides to push on. Doc Boom and I set a ten minute timer, with the plan of hiking on if we can't get a hitch in that time. The ten minutes come and go, so we gather our gear and start filling our water bottles from the brook, and that's when we finally get our ride.The town is waiting for us like we never left, with the same waitresses working in the restaurant and the same old men sitting on the same benches. Coming from the hiking lifestyle of constant change, it's strange to remember how consistent most people's lives are, especially in a small town. Sitting down for dinner where we had breakfast feels like the close of a zero day, and being already familiar with the town I'm in is a novel sensation. Outside the restaurant we meet Colorado, an April 28th starter, and once again I am reminded how much I do not miss the sense of urgency that permeated the first half of my hike.After dinner and desert we head back to the same stealth site from the night before, figuring that we might as well make use of the leg work we've already done in finding the spot. The day has been easier than what I've come to expect, and a second day of town food is a nice treat. If the next 246 miles go by like the last 10 then I can't say that I'd complain.