Date: 2017-06-21
From: Hwy 4 and Rangeley 

To: Rangeley
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Frodo here. I am writing today's entry so Scout can take a break. Besides, since I'm with him all day I'm in a fine position to report on his doings. Today is Hike Naked Day. The summer solstice.  (I know, I think the solstice this year actually occurred yesterday, but most people think it always happens on the 21st.). Just thought I'd throw that out there. No, Scout is not naked. At least not now. If I were hiking the AT today the last thing I would want would be to hike with no clothes on. I don't think even slathering myself with insect repellent would be sufficient to ward off all the nasty bugs in these woods. Not sure how many AT hikers observe the tradition these days, though I'm told it started on the AT. Even on the wonderful, well-designed, viewful, gently-graded, relatively kind-treaded and less buggy and boggy PCT, it's not easy to hike clothes-less for the day.  (In case you haven't noticed, I have come to appreciate the PCT's many wonderful attributes more as I compare them to what I have learned about the AT.) Scout is currently parked at the dining room table of the very warm and welcoming B&B we are staying at in Rangeley, Maine. The guy at the car rental counter called this "God's country."  It is lovely - verdant and with lots of tall purple lupine, beautiful lakes all around. Anyway, Scout is busy emailing folks because he likes to stay in touch with friends and family while he's thru-hiking, and he wants to respond to everyone who has wished him well. A near-impossible task, since there are many dozens. The guy is just so likable and well-liked. Biased, are we?He¢s got hardly any tush left, so he¢s working on eating as much as he can handle.  [Scout: Princesses do you know what a tush is? How does my tush end up in this journal. I'll bet your parents just call it your bottom or rear end. (If Frodo can make comments in my entries. I can in hers.)] For dinner last night we ate at a resort lodge dining room, where we shared a split of Taittinger champagne for a slightly belated anniversary celebration and ate plenty of good food. Since it¢s our anniversary, they gave us a nice slice of cheesecake for dessert, which we took to go. Scout will eat it this afternoon, when he has some room in his stomach.  This was the view from the lawn of Loon Lodge, where we had our delightful dinner: http://www.trailjournals.com/j... Yesterday Scout texted Dot and Frankenfoot and told them I¢m here and would like a chance to meet some of his hiking buddies. If they could arrive this evening we¢d love to take them out to dinner and provide a ride back to the neat hostel near the trailhead. They replied that they would try to make it by 5:30, and they arrived right on the dot! We stopped by the hostel to drop off their stuff and let them clam the cottage Scout had reserved for them, and the owner showed us these very cool moths that had recently emerged from their pupae.http://www.trailjournals.com/j... We had a congenial dinner at the local Italian/pizza restaurant and I enjoyed getting to know them and telling some of our own PCT trail stories. Great folks. You know, when we hiked the PCT, I thought it was going to be all about the scenery (of which there¢s a lot more variety and mountain crags than on the AT) and the physical challenge. But it¢s really about the people you meet and get to know. 99% of long-distance hikers are wonderful people.It Is very nice to be with Barney for this little while. Tomorrow early I will drop him off at the trailhead.