Date: 2013-09-07
From: Gorham, NH

To: Grafton Notch
Miles today: 0.0

Today was different than the usual day on the trail. I'm still not hiking to rest up my shoulder. I'm planning on getting back on the trail in a couple of days. In the meantime, I'm hanging out with Starfail's dad (Jinken) and brother (Sublime). Her dad drove up from Florida to help her through the final 300 miles of the trail. Both of her parents and her brother are all former thru hikers. Jinken, sublime, and I all camped at Grafton Notch last night. We spent all day here waiting for Starfail to show up. It was so awesome. I got to see all my friends throughout the day. I also got to participate in trail magic from the flip side. I observed a guy post a sign offering a shower, food, and anything else they might need. He said he'd be back around noon to see if there were any takers. Then, he and his dog went for a hike up a trail. I'm sure he probably walks his dog here a few times a week. Which means he tacs that same sign up by the trailhead every time he's here. I thought it was such a nice thing to do for hikers!A nice woman named Misses Moose drove up with a big box of MRE (meals ready to eat). She put up a chair in the shade by the food. Then went for a hike. She told us to tell the thru hikers who came through to help themselves to whatever they wanted. It was super nice! Everybody was happy for the extra food!We also had granola bars and cokes to pass out to the hikers. By now everybody on the trail has heard about my dislocated shoulder injury. They were all happy to see that I was getting better. I even went for a short hike today. Sublime and I hiked a 4 mile loop up Table Rock Mountain. It had a big rock scramble at the top. My shoulder hurt trying to pull myself up at a few parts. The worst was going down the mountain. The impact of each step down made my shoulder feel like it was really loose in the socket. I actually held my arm to alleviate the impact on my joint. There was a really cute family at the summit. They hiked up with their two little boys. I talked to them about thru-hiking. They had a lot of questions. It is always fun answering people's questions. We were hiking down the mountain when I saw them again. The dad handed me $40 and said good luck! I tried to refuse the money but he insisted. I'd heard of other hikers getting money from strangers. It was the first time it'd happened to me. It was so nice!At one point in the parking lot at the notch there were about 15 thru hikers. Day hikers were starting to come down from the mountain to get in their cars and drive home. They all started giving us food. One person would start and others saw what was going on and wanted to contribute too. We got fruit, chips, cookies, drinks, even chocolate covered expresso beans! Breeze started talking with an older couple and somehow got invited to stay at their house night! They had room for more people, so Hawk Eye joined him. Eventually, everybody hiked on. Starfail and Fresh Prince stayed with us. We drove down the street to a campground to shower. Then came back to the parking lot to camp. I'm in my tent right now. It's sprinkling outside. I am all warm and cozy in my tent. I even have a real pillow that Marni gave me from the hostel. She actually GAVE me a pillow! Such a wonderful woman!I can't wait to hit the trail. It felt so good to hike today, even though it wasn't much of a hike. I got my new shoes back in Gorham, NH. It was my first time wearing them.