Date: 2004-08-28
From: Sabbath Day Pond Lean-to

To: Rangeley, Maine
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Rangeley, Maine - 9.4 miles, mile 1954.1 on ATI woke and still felt wrung out. I got a late start but I was headed to townand a day off, so I pushed myself forward. I don't even remember much of thetrail I just wanted to get to town. I hit the road and there was a guy sittingthere next to his truck. He offered me water and asked if I would take a survey. Apparently they are talking about putting a wind farm up on one of the ridgesand they are getting opinions of hikers. I finished with him and in a fewminutes got a ride into town. The guy who picked me up was from Ellsworth,Maine which is where Meanderthal writes for the local paper. The guy was goingto be picking up his wife and daughter who were hiking south bound on the trailfor a few days. He told me that they hoped to run into Meanderthal and he wasdisppointed to find out that he was a day behind. Well he drove me into townand gave me a tour as he was a few hours early to pick up his family. I decidedfood was my first priority and so I had lunch number one. I called the hostel and made arrangemmennts to be picked up at 6:00. Than I walked down to the local laundry. I start pulling out my dirty clothes from my pack and the owners show up and their looking at me. The guys starts asking me about the trail and than he tells me his trail name is Papa Gieser and he thru-hiked in '02. We start telling each other stories and his wife asks me whether I wold like a shower. She has to go back to their house and offers to let me come back to the house while my laundry is being done. Off I go. Ends up they are from the Boston area and have had a weend cottage up here on a pond for 20 years. They had just bought the laundry the weekend before and are trying to live up here full time. They had a small beautiful cottage looking out on the pond. She showed me pictures of him finishing his hike and I noticed on the wall that they had both hiked all the 4,000 ft peaks in New England. Well I get back to the laundry and Papa Gieser has put everthing in the dryer and says don't worry about the money. We chat some more and it ends up he ran into my friend Teatree during his hike. They let me stow my gear at the laundry and I go off for more food. I pick the stuff up and at the appointed time I am waiting for the ride to the hostel. I wait, and I wait, and I wait.   am sittig there in front of this store and I start talking to a guy and his girlfriend about the hike and I mention that I am waiting to get to the hostel. The guy says he knows the road although not the place. But how hard can it be. So we drive out it is a couple of miles down a dirt road. We get to a place that looks like it might be the right place and I figure the owner is just out picking somone else up, so I thank the couple and have a seat. I wait and I wait and I wait and now it is dark and so I walk back to town, a good hour. I give another ring to the hostel and again get the answering machine, so I leave a long message about my plight. About five minutes later a truck pulls up and an older gentelman gets out and say are you trying to get to Gull Pond Lodge. That is the name of the place I hopp in and there are two woman thru-hikers,Dragon Slayer and Yoga Monkey. They had done a 21 mile slackpack, and hadgotten in late, which is why everybody was running late. We picked up anothergroup of section hikers and headed back to the hostel. Bob, the owner was anolder guy who loved to talk and tell stories and it gave the place along withhis dogs and cat a wonderfully homey atmosphere.