Date: 2009-08-27
From: Spaulding Mountain Lean-to

To: Me 27, Stratton, ME
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: scattered clouds

Andy made a fire in the morning so we could keep warm while eating our breakfast. It was nice! I packed up and headed off alone to climb the shoulder of Spaulding Mountain. In another mile, I reached the bronze plaque marking the completion of the last section of the AT from GA-ME. My camera was working better than it had yesterday, but the images were still coming out blurry. At a lookout point, I ran into Canteloupe, who had made it to the shelter at 8:30 last night. I heard the latest about Mississippi from her, as she was one of the hikers sharing the same hotel, and had witnessed first hand what had occurred the night before. It was not a pretty picture, involving toxic amounts of alcohol, more blackmailing games directed at the girls, and cross-dressing. Hearing about their participation made me feel less alone and na ve. My feeling is that he exposed his twisted behavior to too many people that night and that is why he went home. Canteloupe and I hiked together for the next stretch and we had lunch on some rocks on the South Branch Carrabassett River. Then, she let me go ahead to climb the Crocker Mountains, as she is faster on the downhills, while I am stronger on the uphills. We had over 2000 feet of climbing to do! Much of the beginning of the climb followed a nice waterfall and river.       Although we did not have views on the summits of South or North Crocker Mountains, there were views along the way. The climbing was not easy, but I used my ipod to help me with my energy, and found the work not too bad. I ran into Poptart on the top of North Crocker Mountain, and on the 5 mile descent, Canteloupe passed me. She informed me that the miles were marked in orange paint, so we could tell exactly how far we had to go. We arranged to get a ride into Stratton together, but Sue (the hostel owner) said she would not leave the hostel until she knew that we were actually at the road. Andy and I finished the last bit together. He warned me about the possibility that Mississippi may not have actually left the trail. "You can't believe anything he says." I knew that was true and took this idea into consideration. When I reached the road, Canteloupe called for our ride. The hostel was full, so Canteloupe and I ended up sharing a motel room, which was preferable for me! We each got our own bed, and Canteloupe bought shampoo and conditioner. She was a great roommate!       The diner was directly across the street from the motel, so we didn¢t have to exert any extra energy walking around town! Most of the townspeople were at a benefit that night at the White Wolf Inn, for a family whose home had caught on fire the night we were in Andover (where there were tornado warnings). One of the diner workers told us that he had seen the firefall fly through the sky!   When, it came time to pay for our dinner, I couldn¢t find my debit card. Luckily, I had enough cash, but I needed to find my card! Back in our room, I searched through everything I owned, multiple times. I could not find it anywhere! I thought back to the last time I had used it, which I thought was at the hostel in Andover. However, I later realized that I had used it at the ¢Red Onion¢ in Rangely. I asked Erik to look up the number, called them, and found that they did indeed have it! I asked them to send it to Monson, as I would reach Caratunk faster than it could be mailed there.   We had to wait a long time to load our laundry into the washing machine that evening. Someone was using it and it turned out that we had to wait well over an hour for it! It was the slowest washing machine we had ever encountered! Poptart and Andy asked if they could throw their clothes in as well, and then another hiker who was waiting said he wanted in on our load, too! We stayed up late in order to put the clothes into the dryer, but could not wait for them to dry. Canteloupe had arranged a southbound slackpack on the next section with another hiker and had to leave at 6am. It was already midnight and we were tired!