Date: 2017-08-10
From: Imp Campsite

To: Route 2/Gorham
Miles today: 8.0

I woke earlier than the rest of the people at Imp Campsite.  I did my usual morning routine in the privy without worrying about someone waiting on me.  I ate breakfast at the bench at the cook site and enjoyed the view and the quiet.  I got water as the rest of the shelter was waking up.  Grey Eagle was on the trail before me.I climbed up toward Mt Moriah.  The trail to the summit was a blue blaze trail, only 0.1 mile.  But it was a straight up rock climb.  I chose not to take it.  I met an AT hiker coming south, near the top of Mt Moriah. He said people were telling him about how difficult the Whites were. This mountain he just climbed was a challenge but not that bad. I told him from Carter Dome to Pinkham Notch (the Wildcats) was 6 miles of rock climb.     I came down Mt Moriah. The rock scramble was similar to the Wildcats but only about a mile. I met two weekend hikers. One of them said it was all rocks behind them. I did not know what to do with that information. There are so many different kinds of rocks on the AT, an occasional fist size rock on dirt in Virginia, to granite rock slab in Maine, to the pointy, wobbly two fist size rocks of Pennsylvania with very little dirt, to the rock climb of the Wildcats. He tried to explain when he saw my expression. As it turned out, it was only a little more than occasional fist size rock on dirt like Virginia.  Yeah!  As the day progressed, the trail got easier.  I came to Rattle River Shelter.  A couple arrived shortly behind me.  There was a note in the log for them from their friend letting them know when he was her and his plans.  I searched for the privy but did not find it.  The couple left before I returned.  I was joined by another AT hiker for lunch at the shelter.  I was taking my time, not feeling particularly strong that day.  We talked pleasantly.   My fellow hikers were correct.  The trail from the shelter to Route 2 was easy, wide and relatively flat.  Back at the Barn Hostel, I had overheard many discussions of north bounders about when the very difficult terrain of the Whites would end.  This part of the trail was a tease to them.  It gave the north bounders hope that the difficult part was over.  Warren Doyle at the Appalachian Trail Institute told us that when we reached Route 2, we were less than half through the tough terrain.  My experience in Maine confirmed what Warren Doyle said.  It was a delightful hike along the river on a beautiful day.   I came out of the woods at the Route 2 parking lot and looked for my missing green comb.  I lost it, last time I was here.  I had asked Paul at the Barn Hostel to look for it the following day.  He looked but did not find it.  For me, backpacking is a series of losing things.  Many times I find them later in my backpack.  I rejoice on those occasions.  Other times, never to be found again.  For me, it has been a lesson of letting go of things.  They can be replaced.  I had already purchased a new comb.     A big Ford F350 truck pulled up with three AT hikers in the back.  The AT hikers were in a good mood, as was the driver.  They joked about him picking up hiker trash on the side of the road.  Then one of them started thanking me for him picking them up.  I guess they assumed I was the driver's thru hiking wife.  "No, no," I said.  "I am a hiker like you."  The driver asked me if I wanted a ride and I said yes.  I threw my backpack in the truck bed and joined him in the cab.  We drove to the Barn Hostel.  He parked there.  To get my pack out of the truck bed, I climbed the three feet to stand on the bumper and pulled out my pack.  I am confident my parents at my age of 59 were not capable of making this climb, but here I was, doing what I had done countless times on the trail and now on the truck bumper.  I thanked him for the ride and he drove off.   At the kitchen table, was a couple checking into the B&B next door.  They had attended the Appalachian Trail Institute with Warren Doyle, like I had.  Warren Doyle says he has hiked the AT 18 times.  We agreed he was a character.   It was nice to be back at the hostel.  I took possession of the same bed I slept in previously.  I took a shower, washed clothes and went to dinner at the Chinese buffet with two male AT thru hikers.  At dinner, I told them how close I was to finishing the trail.  They were happy for me.  One of them shook his head.  "You must be persistent.  Coming back to the trail all those times."  I told him my ex-husband said I was tenacious, as if that was a bad thing.  It has paid off for hiking the trail.   In the evening, in the bunk room I was talking with some of the AT hikers and mentioned I had hiked in Tuscon.  The woman sleeping next to me lived in Tuscon.  I mentioned I liked caving.  She told me about Peppersauce Cave near Tuscon.  I plan to be in Tuscon the end of January 2018.  We made plans for her to take me to Peppersauce Cave then.  Oh soooo cool.     Later, I got up to go to the bathroom.  When I came out of the bathroom, there were a few people sitting around the kitchen table.  One of the men motioned to me.  "Come over here.  We were just talking about you.  You are amazing,"  I was surprised anyone thought I was amazing.  He was amazed that I went caving in tight spots.  I put my hand out with the thumb and pinky in opposite directions.  If there is a little bit of room on either side of my thumb and pinky, I can fit and I go into the tight space.  I told him I have been in places where the toe of my boot is on the floor and the heel of my boot is on the roof.  He just shook his head.  It gave him the heebie jeebies.  I said a few more scary things to him and decided to stop.  I went back to bed.