Date: 2014-09-08
From: Imp Shelter

To: Mount Hayes
Miles today: 10.6

On today's agenda was to go back into Gorham to resupply before heading back to the trail. This time around Gorham wasn't too far from the trail and we didn't want to carry a full resupply up and over the Wildcat and Carter Mountains so that's why we came back to town. It took a little while to get into town but thankfully a gentleman who is a trail maintainer in Maine was nice enough to drive us to Walmart.   This was one of those mega Walmart's which are quite impressive and has opens up the opportunities for different meals to have on the the trail. I finally hit my limit on pasta sides and opted for some Hamburger Helper meals combined some packaged beef,it becomes a thousand calorie dinner. After thinking I did a great resupply, I quickly realized I bought way to much as I scanned the items at the self checkout, it's going to be a heavy pack for a few days. The Walmart had a deli so we bought some chicken and mashed potatoes and a chicken caesar salad which we ate on a bench outside. While we were eating a guy drives up and drops a lady off and asks if we need as ride back into town, which we quickly replied yes. He was in a hurry so we rushed and got everything into his truck and he drove us to the outskirts of town to a gas station. This is where I realized I left my trekking pole in the shopping cart back at the Walmart and I sat there in anger for a few minutes. I was going to let it go but Atlas was determined to get a ride back and look for it. First things first was to break down and organize all the food which we did in grass field,it's amazing how much garbage is produced from all the packaging. At this point Puzzles and Sassafras saw us and came by and said Miss Janet was taking them to Walmart to resupply, this was my chance to find my trekking pole.    Once she showed up and I told her my dilemma she gave us a ride under the condition that if I have find my pole I have to do a thirty second pole dance with it. Apparently this happens to a lot of thru hikers and this is her form of punishment for them. We get to Walmart and thankfully it was at the lost and found and now I dreaded that I may have to dance. Most times I wouldn't do it but she was going to give us a ride back to the trailhead and she wouldn't take a bribe so I was stuck with doing a dance. She found a nice spot in front of the potter plants out front, another they hiker out some Spanish music on and I said 'what do I have to lose?' and I gave the best damn dance performance that Walmart has ever seen. Unfortunately, Sassafras and Miss Janet taped it so I should have a copy of this dance soon enough.   It was around five before we got to the trailhead and we were only going to go about a mile to a brook and camp. Well that brook was all dried up and we didn't fill up beforehand so we were in a bit of a predicament. This is a lesson for future thru hikers-don't 100% rely on the guide books because they aren't 100% right, water sources dry out so if you have a chance to fill up, do it and never be empty. We hiked on for another mile in hopes for another water source but it didn't happen. We finally called in a day and stealth camped and we still had our chicken caesar salad so we ate those for dinner. Yet again it's another interesting adventure while resupplying but there aren't too many more ahead so I'm cherishing each of them.