Date: 2004-08-12
From: Bemis Mtn Lean-to

To: Rangeley Inn
Miles today: 17.7

Once again, a gray day it is. In the morning things were nice. A grouse posed for some photos. The trail dropped down from around 3,000' to 1,500'. This may be a place where the trail crossed under some high tension lines that were buzzing and snapping. It's a bit scary and this was not the only place this happened.Soon the trail forded Bemis Stream. The ford wasn't exactly short. It came up to mid thigh at the deepest. There were 2 parts to it with a couple of steps on land about 2/3 of the way across. All things considered it went pretty well. The Crocks worked great. Then the trail climbed for another mile and crossed Maine Route 17. Around noon the trail swung by Long Pond. There was a little beach with some strange chair table things the purpose for which escaped me. Long Pond was a big body of water. This was not exactly a typical pond in my book. It was huge. Soon the trail reached Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to. This was a good excuse for some lunch and another journal entry.The next photo is of the interior of my room at the Inn in Rangeley. That's because it rained the rest of the day. The camera doesn't like rain. I just plodded along through the rain all after noon for the next 9 miles until hitting Maine Route 4. Then it was a mater of standing in the rain with my thumb hanging out on the inside of a curve on a rise as the occasional car screamed up one side of the pass and back down the other side. It was hard to see how someone could stop in time even if they wanted to. Eventually though someone did.It was a fairly nice car, maybe a Volvo, that stopped with two 30ish guys sitting up front. The passenger was smoking but a drowned beggar can't complain. Then he asked if I wanted some. What? Oh no. It was a joint. I declined and was grateful to find the driver wasn't taking part but in a closed car in the rain can you really not. The passenger opened a window a crack and so did I. They were nice enough guys. After all they did pick me up. It was only 9 miles into town. We had some good talk. They thought hiking the trail was pretty cool. They dropped me at the the grocery store just this side of town. I made a dash for the store through the downpour.After the shopping was done, another patron on her way to her car was kind enough to give me a ride into town. The Rangeley Inn was a big old wooden building 3 stories high with a big porch that stretched across its entire front. Inside, the lobby had wood floors, wainscoting and a big fireplace. It was full of nice living room type furniture and rugs. The whole place was a classy country inn but very homey and comfy. This place made me feel like I should leave my boots by the door but no one blinked an eye at my drowned grunge.The woman at the registration desk gave me the price of a single room. The sticker shock was self evident on my face for sure. Haggling is not normally my style but I did ask if there was a special rate for AT thru-hikers. She did some paper shuffling and came back with a better rate. It was still steep but at least it was only 2 digits now.Having moved into my corner room at the end of the hall it was now time to head out to find the laundromat. It was going to close soon so waiting out the machine seemed like the best idea. It rained some more.The clean clothes were dropped back in my room and now it was time to roam the town in search of fuel and some dinner. There was a little gear/gift shop that filled my fuel bottle. They also had some quart sized Gatorade packets. That was exciting. There was a little restaurant, The Red Onion, that served up a fine dish of eggplant Parmesan. The fun part was the huge selection of soft serve ice cream flavors. They had this crazy machine that would mix any of these flavors into the soft serve on its way to the cone. Those crazy Mainiacs. Mmmm. Back in the room the TV reported that this weather was the fall-out of hurricane Bonnie moving up the coast. On top of that a second hurricane, Charlie, was in hot pursuit behind that. Oh well, it was late and it had been a 17.7 mile day. It was time to sleep.