Date: 2008-08-05
From: North Crocker Mountain ME 

To: Stratton Motel ÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂ Stratton ME
Miles today: 5.2

Day 170 Tuesday August 5 ¢ Stratton Motel ¢ Stratton ME - Miles Today: 5.2 Total Miles: 1988.4We had a sleepless night as the wind blew quite hard at our stealth site at the top of North Crocker Mountain. With the windy conditions, it took us a while to get to sleep. Of course, the rocks poking us all over did not help much either. It really was a less than optimal site, but a cool site. Eventually we did get to sleep. We had a light rain on and off all night long. We got up at our normal 5:00 and were on the trail by 6:00 - just 5 miles into Stratton. Before leaving camp, Brakeman stood on top of the stone pile that held the summit sign, raised his hands above his head and snapped a picture of the sunrise. The pine trees prevented us from seeing it from ground level, but it looked beautiful. I guess we¢ll have to wait to see the picture.Shortly before the road, we ran into 2 middle-aged men who were headed up the trail to do trail maintenance. We talked to them about the conditions of the trail. They explained to us that parts of Maine are so remote that they have trouble finding volunteers to maintain the trails properly. In addition, the population base is small so they have less to draw from. He also mentioned that the winter set a 100 year record for the amount of snowfall, so not only was the summer rainy, but also the winter was snowy.As we approached the road, there was a car dropping off a thru-hiker. We quickly opened the passenger door and asked if we could get a ride into town. Turns out the driver was Sue from the Stratton Motel! We scored a hitch in less than 30 seconds of effort. And I guess we know what hotel we¢ll be staying at today! We had originally wanted to stay at the White Wolf Inn, as it was cheaper, but since it was closed on Tuesdays, we figured the Stratton Motel was our next best choice. Have you ever heard of a motel being closed? How¢s that work in the motel business? The Stratton Motel is a huge motel of 5 rooms and a hostel. We were placed in Room 5, which had one double bed. Since the room was already cleaned for the day, we were in our room just after 9:00. We immediately exploded our packs to dry our gear and showered. We made great time hiking this morning and we're pleased to be able to get the most out of our nero day. The laundry machine at the hostel was broken so we hand washed a few of our items and strung all of our wet gear, including our money bills, around the room or outside over the railing to dry. We were able to get everything dry today although we know that tomorrow it will be wet once again as the rains are supposed to move in. In front of the motel, by the road, are 3 life size bears carved out of wood, decked out with hiking sticks and backpacks. Tacky, but very cute and unusual. It made us chuckle.Across the street was the grocery store so the first order of business after showering was to get something to eat for our day in town. We walked away with 6 bagels, pepperoni and cheese, a 1/2-gallon of ice cream and a pint of chocolate milk, which we accidentally shoplifted as Brakeman had it in his hand and not in the grocery basket. We were too busy talking to the clerk and didn¢t even notice that we failed to put all of our groceries on the counter. The 1/2-gallon of ice cream went down so easily that a couple hours later we went back to the store for another 1/2 gallon (and to pay for the shoplifted milk), which we also polished off immediately. No need for a freezer when we are here! Life is good.We had clear, sunny skies all day - the best that we have seen in several weeks. Although we would rather have been on the trail during this nice weather spell, it does make hitch hiking and town chores easier. Hopefully this dry day also gave time for the water to drain off the trails a bit. We were able to use the PC in the hostel area to check emails and send out our latest journal to everybody. We also raided the hiker box for brand new batteries and chapstick. I¢m embarrassed to admit that Brakeman also helped himself to some of the coffee flavored ice cream that was found in the freezer, after we had already polished off our own gallon. We¢re almost done with the trip and we¢ve been in very few hostels. It was neat to roam around it and see what $20 EACH would have bought us. I think we¢ll stay with the private room, thank you.We're hoping for a solid night of sleep tonight, after last night¢s restless one. Good night from Stratton.