Date: 2018-09-05
From: Rattle River Lodge and Hostel

To: Rattle River Lodge and Hostel
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: mist

Last night I was pretty wired and couldn't really sleep well. There was a guy on the bottom bunk that would cough but it sounded more like a bear. I eventually fell asleep around 2 am. I got up at 8 am to make myself pancakes that the hostel included. I ate 3 large cakes and a few cups of coffee. I signed up for the noon shuttle that took you to town then to Walmart. I lounged around and hung outside. Growler showed up. He had taken a lot of zeros and was allowing everyone to catch up with him. Then Hails and Fish Ears showed up. They had stayed at the Imp shelter about 7 miles back.  We all crammed into the shuttle. It seemed that the driver was impatient with us but that's typical when you got to herd hiker cats around. He dropped us off in Gorham and would come back in 2 hours to take us to Walmart. I stopped at the outfitters that was also a hardware store. They really didn't have much but I picked up 8 new tent stakes that were lighter than my collected ones. Hails, Fish Ears, and I went to the local BBQ joint in town. I ordered a ruben made with pulled pork and a couple ribs. It was not bad but Texas BBQ is still better.  I learned that Hails used to be on a rowing team in college. She would go to Austin to compete sometimes. She was the person that told everyone to row and was good at bossing people around. After lunch we walked back to the outfitters to wait for the shuttle. Another hiker there was talking about slack packing the 21 miles from Pinkham notch to US 2 where the hostel was. It had taken other hikers 14 hours to do that trek. He hadn't night hiked either and really didn't want to do it. But his pack weighed a lot and he didn't want to carry it up the Wildcats. He kept complaining that the hostel van should leave earlier than 7 am so he wouldn't have to night hike. I told him not to slack if he was really worried about night hiking. He was determined to do the slack though. I hope he doesn't rush it since it's easy to get hurt on that terrain. The shuttle showed up to take us to Walmart. Another hiker named Hills thought it was going back to the hostel and he threw a fit. Apparently when his blood pressure spikes he can get in a fowl mood. The driver said he would go back to pick him up after Walmart. Hills just sat on the bench and waited for his return. At Walmart I bought too much food as usual. I also replaced the Sawyer mini I found in a hiker box with a squeeze since the water flow had been so bad with the mini. I even popped a Sawyer bag trying to force water through the mini.  Back at the hostel Maga was there. He had come down from the mountain. He had met a girl named Grape that he had been hiking with for the past few days. Deluxe mentioned that he bought food to make burritos for the hostel staff. I said I could help him cut veggies and meat for the meal. He took me up on the offer. I called my parents and thanked them for the resupply package they had sent me. It included a good amount of alcohol that I shared with everyone. My dad had sent some of his home made salsa that was really good. I got in the kitchen and laid out all the alcohol for everyone then got to work chopping vegetables. Stretch just watched me as I cut the green peppers and onions. We laid out a spread of cheese, beans, rice, guacamole, chicken fajitas, chips, and tortillas. The hostel staff loved the food. Maga had been doing a work for stay and also ate some grub. We hung out in the common area. Stretch put on the movie The Replacements and I zoned out for a little bit. I made sure to stretch my legs since they would be working tomorrow. I started falling asleep on the floor and went to bed.Tonight I'm cozy and don't want to hike tomorrow.