Date: 2005-07-25
From: Trident Col Tentsite, NH

To: Gorham, NH
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: fog

6.9 miles today...that's almost 7 miles!!!Northern Peaks MotelGorham, NH I slept good again. It rained litely a few times during the night, but was dry when I packed up after having coffee and breakfast. It was warmer last night. I got used to the cool nights in a hurry with the beautiful weekend weather we had up here. I started hiking at 6am and climbed a mountain right away...what else?? I got to the summit of Cascade Mountain, then went down and back up to Mt Hayes before going a long way down to Rt 2 near Gorham, NH. On the way down that last mountain, I saw a porcupine on the trail just ahead of me. He moved just off the trail and posed for me, but I wasn't quick enough with my camera. I followed it about 30 yards into the forest and I treed it. I got a few nice pictures then left him to figure out how to get back down. ;-))) About 15 minutes later I saw the top part of a backpack just laying in the trail. I yelled out to see if anyone was around. I got no answer. I knew I hadn't seen any nobos carrying a grey Mystery Ranch backpack, so I figured that maybe a sobo accidentally left it behind. I picked it up thinking I could take it to Gorham and drop it off at The Barn. It was almost as heavy as my whole backpack. I went farther down the mountain and called out again. This time I got an answer. I asked if it was theirs and the lady said yes. I layed it down and went on down to where she was and saw she was having a hard time with the bottom part of her pack. Her pack was so heavy that she took the top up the hill and came back down to get the bottom. She said she was going to hike all of the trail in Maine. This was her second day out and she was less than 3 miles from where she started. I wanted to tell her about the benefits of carrying less weight, but I figured she was learning the best way she could. I hiked on down to the road and got a ride with the first car that came by. He dropped me off in the middle of town and I started walking toward the motel. I saw 2 hikers heading for the door of a restaurant that had a sign out front that said; "All you can eat breakfast"...I followed them and sat down at their table. Their names were Bones and Number 11. I asked Number 11 how he got his name. He said that he started the trail on the first of February and people kept telling him there were about 10 nobos in front of him. He figured he was "Number 11." I went to the motel after breakfast and got a room. I saw Opa there who had been with Moosie when I took them some trail magic near Stratton Mountain in Vt. He said he was going to The Cabin in Andover to rest up his bad knee. I waited around and Bear showed up. I didn't expect to see him again this year. I picked up my bounce box and spent the rest of the day in my motel room going through my bounce box and figuring out my next part of the trail and what I needed. I went outside to go find something to eat for dinner and there was about half a dozen hikers sitting out front. I caught a few names...Blue Eyes, Haiku, Dr Chicadee, Alobar, Skittles and Flip. Alobar and I have been seeing each others entries in registers for years now. Flip is the brother of a trail friend from my '02 nobo hike by the name of Badger. I actually hiked over Baldpate Mountain back in '02 with Badger and his younger brother, Flip who was out here slowing him down at that time. Now he's just 300 miles from doing the whole trail himself. I walked to a restaurant in town for dinner and had a good surf and turf meal. Bones was there and a little later, Bucko and Greg came in. I resupplied at the Rite Aid across the street with a few items to get me to Pinkham Notch, then went back to my room for the night. Being in this motel room tonight, I could care less whether it thunders and hails all night. I just saw the weather forcast and it was for clear, calm and 50 degrees...wish I was in my tent. ;-)))