Date: 2005-07-17
From: Stratton, ME

To: Crocker Cirque Campsite, ME
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: overcast clouds

7.3 miles todayCrocker Cirque Campsite, Maine I did my best to sleep in today. I made it till almost 7am before I got up. Don, the new owner of the Stratton Motel, and I went across the street and had breakfast. He has done alot to the motel and the Roadhouse since February of this year. Most importantly, he has made Stratton a very hiker friendly town. I went back to my room after breakfast and took another shower since it will be 4 or 5 days till my next one. Then I went into the hostel part of the motel and talked to a few of the hikers. Don wanted to show me the Roadhouse he's working on for hikers, so we drove about 4 miles out of town to look at it. It's about a 100 year old house that had been used to house lumberjacks. He's really fixing it up nicely and updating alot of stuff. Very nice place. I wasn't in any hurry to leave town because I'm hoping to go slow enough in the next 5 days so Moosie, Goldilocks and I can meet up in Andover and maybe hike a day together. I called Bear at The Cabin in Andover and warned him I would be there on the 21st. He said he'd save the private room for me. I'm such a lite sleeper that I don't usually stay in hostels unless I can get a private room. Too many people snore. Restless and I went back to the diner for lunch. I had a chef's salad since it will be a while until I get some vegetables again. I also had a milk shake just because I can. :-)) Restless had an interesting story about his life living on a sailboat for the last 7 years. Hummm, I wonder if it's hard to learn how to sail. We went back to the hostel and while I was on the phone with my daughter-in-law, Paladin came in. I didn't recognize him at first because he'd lost alot of weight since I saw him down in Tn. Another friend of his by the name of Seneca came in and introduced himself. Trek stayed on to take a zero. He's flipping after Katahdin, so I may see him again. Roaming Gnome and I got Don to drive us back to the trailhead and I started hiking at 2pm. I had a long climb up North Crocker Mountain. It was very humid out so I worked up a sweat pretty fast. I ran into a couple sectioning from Ct by the names of M&M. We talked a while, then I continued up the mountain. When I got to the top, another section hiker by the name of Shadow was there. I started going down the mountain and a nobo came by me. I wasn't sure if I'd recognized him or not so I asked his name. It was Wandering Bull. He cleaned himself up and cut his hair short since I'd seen him last. He's the guy that was hiking just ahead of me on the Florida Trail earlier this year. It was great seeing him again and I could have talked to him for a while, but he was running out of time to get to the restaurant before they closed. We still talked about 10 minutes before he took off. Congratulations Wandering Bull on a great hike!!! I got to the bottom of that mountain and then went right back up to the summit of South Crocker Mountain. I ran into a friend of Moosie and Goldilock's near there by the name of Steak & Eggs. He seemed like a good young man that was looking forward to finishing his hike. I hiked down the mountain to the blue blaze trail leading to this campsite. I stayed at the trail junction for a minute trying to decide whether to stay or push on. Normally I would have kept walking, but since I'm trying to do shorter miles to meet up with Moosie and Goldilocks, I stayed. I had split pea soup for dinner that Mrs Moosie and I dehydrated a couple months ago. It was very good!! I had never come back to this campsite which is .2 miles off the trail. It has tent platforms, so I'm sleeping on wood tonight. It's got a stream that runs right next to it and it's a nice area. I've got it all to myself.