Date: 2006-07-25
From: Piazza Rock Lean-To

To: Rangely, ME4
Miles today: 1.8
Weather: scattered clouds

So I'm up and the last to leave this very nice shelter, Piazza Rock. It has a two seater privy with a cribbage board. The Privy is even named "Your Move." Kelli, too bad you didn't teach me how to play cribbage when we were at Three Forks!I take the short stroll back to where the caves are. These are large boulders that have fallen off the face of the mountain and when they landed they formed cave-like spaces. Very neat.Then on my way out, I check out the Piazza Rock. It's a huge slab of granite that is perched or cantilevered out over another rock. It's quite impressive. You can even climb on top of it.Short two miles to the road. I speak briefly with a spry older nobo named Dreamer. He's concerned about climbing Saddleback due to the weather and I tell him about my experience with it yesterday in hopes of reassuring him that he will do fine.Once at the road, I encounter my quickest hitch yet. As soon as I put my thumb out, a green truck pulls over and offers me a ride. The hiking skirt is paying off! Turns out this gentleman does boundary surveys along the trail to make sure no one is logging, dumping trash or building where they shouldn't be. He also used to maintain a section of the trail. A few miles down the road, we see Goatmilk, a sobo hiker from NJ whom I had just met two days before at Poplar Ridge Lean-to. He obviously was not as lucky getting a hitch, so I mention this to my driver and he picks him up as well. We get dropped off at the information center and call Gull Pond to see about stayng at the hostel. Left message with them and so we we head out to the street to see what Rangely is all about. Stop in the PO, no packages. So Goatmilk and I are just chatting outside on the side of the road, and this blue truck passes, backs up, parks, and a woman gets out and approaches us. She asks us if we need a place to stay, get cleaned up, do laundry, etc. Hesitantly, we reply yes, to all of the above. She invites us to her house on Rangely Lake. She tells us that her son hiked the trail in 2003 and has been looking for hikers to give trail magic to. I tell you what, my decision to take the section between Stratton and Rangely slow paid off in so many ways. I got to hang out with Dawn and Mary, my body was less taxed over strenuous terrain, the weather for Saddleback could not have been more perfect, and the timing of my arrival in Rangely set me up for the best tral magic received yet!Cynthia and Severin and their sons, Devin (the hiker) and Liam treated us to grilled hamburgers and chicken for lunch with a delicious fresh green salad, a warm shower, laundry, a ride to town to check out internet at the library and pick up groceries, beers and conversation on their porch overlooking the lake, a swim in the lake, a dip in the hot tub, thai take-out for dinner and a warm comfortable bed to sleep in. All of this was phenomenal. But what I enjoyed the most was just getting to know these people this family from Maine. They were/are so genuine and caring. I felt completely at home, relaxed, welcomed. This experience of spending time with the locals of the towns that I pass through is the best gift I have received on this journey. Of course, I came out here to see the beauty and bounty of our great country, but it is more than geography that I am experiencing. It's culture. It's humanity. It's wonderful!