Date: 2014-07-21
From: Gorham, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Would You Like Ketchup With That?My ride into Gorham was epic. I got out to the road and was cold and wet. It had drizzled on me from Mt Washington onward. I couldn't have been looking all that swell, but no sooner did I stick out my thumb when a van going the wrong direction breaked to a stop and swung back around towards me. It was a Mt Washington van that shuttles guests from the summit back to their cars at various parking lots. A group of four college boys riding in back of the van had seen me hitching and called for the driver to stop. Somehow they convinced him to let me into the van free of charge and told me that if I wanted they would be willing to drive me the rest of the way to Gorham once they retrieved their car. I heartily accepted and swiftly threw my pack through the open doors. FYI, my pack has taken on a stench that can only be described as a half-and-half mix of rotting vegetable matter and body odor. Moldy sweat. Mmmm. The boys didn't seem to mind too much. They spent most of the ride peppering me with questions. Who was I? How old was I? Was I doing this alone? Did I know that I had moss in my hair? Where did I sleep? What did I eat? How did I get food? Was I ever scared? Did I need a boyfriend?I gotta say, for a gal that wasn't so popular in high school I felt like the equivalent of a prom queen.In the midst of all the questions I was able to pry a little information in return. They were all in their early 20's and two of them were twin brothers. They had come up to the Whites for two days of hiking and were fairly unprepared for the terrain (I stole a glance at their clothes and shoes and noticed a lot of cotton and not a pair of hiking footwear amongst the lot of them). They were an exuberant bunch and it was fun to listen to them rag on one another and fall into normal college boy patterns of behavior. The driver dropped us at a parking lot and we all clambered out, but as he drove away one of the boys, having looked around a little, piped up, "Uh, guys? Does this look familiar to you?"Everyone kind of turned in a circle and a general outburst of sighing began. They had told the driver the wrong parking lot. Out came maps from various pockets and we tried to figure out where we were. It wasn't a bad as it could have been, but we were about a mile's walk along a wooded path from where their car was. There was nothing for it. I hoisted my pack and and they gathered their rucksacks and we set off together, exuberance only temporarily dampened. We found the car just fine and they dropped me off at The Barn Hostel on the edge of Gorham with lots of good luck wishes. I will say this about my lodgings: it was indeed a barn. I washed my clothes, showered, shot the breeze with Doc, the very vegan, very opinionated, and yet still likable owner, and then climbed into bed. I was the only hiker in residence for the night and I took advantage of the quiet. I was exhausted. My cousin Moira was scheduled to visit me in town the following day so I planned to take zero. I got up late (on trail I'm usually up by 5 and out by 6, so by late I mean I slept until 7:45) and had a heaping breakfast of corned beef hash, eggs, toast, hash-browns, chocolate milk, and watermelon. Grouch came in as I was halfway through my plate and we chatted amiably about our time in the Whites. As I ate I got a text from Ketchup asking if I was still in town. We'd been playing text tag for the last week since neither of us ever seemed to have service at the same time. He and Reroute were at the post office and after I paid for my meal I headed over to find them.Reroute only had two weeks left to finish the trail because of grad school and had decided to skip around the trail a bit before she had to go home. She'd rented a car and had spent the past week going to different road crossings to hike up to different peaks. This was her last day with the rental and she offered to drive Ketchup and I to the local Walmart (3 miles away) to do a resupply. We spent the morning catching up and running errands until she had to return the car and catch her ride up into Maine to begin the Hundred Mile Wilderness. After she left I convinced Ketchup to stick around with me and stay at the Barn for the evening. Moira showed up around noon and the three of us went to grab some lunch at my breakfast nook. We chatted about family, school and life. It was good to see her! I was touched that she had driven so far to see me for just a few hours. It was a pretty big treat. She left around 4 and Ketchup and I returned to the hostel to hang out for a bit before deciding we were hungry again and headed out in search of pizza.Ketchup is from New Jersey and a bit of a pizza connoisseur. It took us three restaurants before he "found a smell that grabbed him." As we ate he asked if I wanted to hike with him for a bit, since we were both nervous about facing the Mahoosic Notch alone. He was probably just being nice about it. I think I was more nervous than he was, but I didn't care. Ketchup rocks and I said yes without hesitation. We went back to the Barn to share a beer and toast out decision and then headed to bed. I slept like a rock. It was good to have a hiking buddy again.