Date: 2010-09-13
From: Pinkham Notch

To: Gorham
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: light rain

Gorham, 0.0   Another day of recovery after a big mile bay. Decided on a zero day again today. The weather was more of a factor then the recovery than anything else.   I sent Bismarck a text today to see where they were at. Shortly after I sent it I was surprised when he responded saying he was 15 down the road in Glen. He was trying to get back to the trail head. Hopper offered him a ride so we ran down to pick Bismarck and Bluesky up. On the way to get them we pick up two other hikers trying to get back to the trail, Bluegrass and Big R. We dropped them off at Pinkham Notch.   When we got to Glen we also ran into G Hippie and we had just missed Grizz. G Hippie was waiting for a friend from Maine to come pick him up for the day. He was taking a zero day because of the weather. We sat chatting with Bismarck and Bluesky for about 1/2 before we loaded up the car and took them to Pinkham Notch.   On the way back to the room I stopped off at the bank to get some cash to carry with me when I leave tomorrow. I took $100 out of my account and was very much surprised to discover that I only had $31.50 left in my hiking account. That means I can not draw any more out of my account. I have $100 to get me to the end of my trip. I don't know if that is possible but I am going to find out.   About three hours after we dropped Bismarck and Bluesky off they sent me a text saying they were taking the chair lift down from Wildcat Mountain. The weather and the terrain had taken a toll on Bluesky. They made arrangements to meet us for dinner.   When we arrived for dinner tonight there were a bunch of other thru hikers there also. These hikers were, Ice, Lasher(Long Distance Section Hiker), Birch, Bubba, Piere, Puck, Bismarck, Bluesky. It was great sitting around with a large group of thru hikers sharing stories and catching up on who is where and what has been going on. It is also great to know that there are still a lot of thru hikers all around us. I have been running into a couple other thru hikers every day that I have been on the trail lately. I have also head about ones that are just a mile or so ahead of me and behind me. It is great to know I am not alone out here.   Tomorrow is the day. We are leaving Gorham rain or shine, we should be crossing the Maine border on Thursday.   My next trail town will be Andover Maine. I am looking forward to that. That is pretty my my trail home away from home. I spend a lot of time in Andover. When I am not doing my trail maintenance there on my section of the AT that I maintain there, I am visiting with the two hostels that. I am good friends with both of them.   I want to go into a little rant about the Appalachian Mountain Club, known as the AMC. They maintain most of the Appalachian Trail through the White Mountains or I should say they are suppose to maintain the trails through the Whites. They do piss poor of a job at this. The trails are in pretty good shape but the trail marking are very terrible for people hiking the AT. The white blazes pretty much disappear across the Whites and especially the presidentails. There are signs that are marked wrong and have arrows pointing in the wrong direction, other people have scribbled on the signs making corrections. Sometimes you wonder if it is people writing on the signs to cause trouble. How much trouble would it be for them to have a new sign made to replace the incorrect marked sign to prevent hikers from going in the wrong direction or baffling the hiker. Us the hikers call the the Appalachian Money Club rather than the Appalachian Mountain Club. We do this for there greed for money. Every hut, shelter and campsite they maintain on the AT if a paid fee we have to pay. All other shelters and campsites and shelters along the AT are free. They bring in a lot of money but yet they can not mainaint the signage on the AT. All all state trail clubs are run by volenteers and there is no fees for anything and they have good trail signage, yet the AMC charges for everything and can not keep there trails marked well or up to date. We just can not understand that. Every thru hiker that I have talked to has either has some confusion or taken a wrong turn somewhere in the Whites because of bad trail markings. AMC why don't you take some of your money and make new signs with the correct directions on them or white blaze the AT through the Whites?