Date: 2015-08-24
From: Safford Notch 

To: Mile 192.3 Spring
Miles today: 14.5
Weather: overcast clouds

It was cool when I woke in the morning. Mike started out and I caught up with him. I told him about the woman at the last shelter saying there were reports of norovirus on Avery Peak. Neither Mike nor I drank from the cistern at Avery Peak. I was thirsty. I got some water at the spring 0.2 west of the trail. As I returned to the trail, I met some northbounders who said there were reports of norovirus where I had just gotten water. I was so thirsty and later drank the water. At the Horns Pond Lean-Tos, I met another trail runner. She gave me directions to the boxed spring. I asked her about norovirus. She said all summer there were rumors of norovirus. She had been drinking from this spring with a filter and had not gotten sick. The man from Washington DC and his son joined us as we ate in the Horns Pond Lean-To. We watched as a mouse was busy finding scraps of food. The man and his son were leaving the trail at ME 27 for Stratton.As I came down the mountain I met Bear Belle in the opposite direction. She had stayed a few days with her brother who lived nearby. She did not recommend the Stratton Motel. I had a food drop at the Stratton Motel. They were replacing a sewage pipe.As I continued down the mountain, I met another single woman. She was in her early 60's. She had done half the trail in two years. This year she was finishing the rest of the trail, which may have been more than she should. She thought in the Whites there should be free shelters next to the huts for pay. She had stealth camped because she hiked slow and was not able to hike from one hut to the next one.I got to ME 27/Stratton at 5 pm. Seconds after I got out my map to determine which direction to hike to town, a vehicle stopped to give me a ride to town. He was in his early 50's. He had worked at the ski resort hauling snow making tubes up and down the mountain. As he was getting older, it was getting harder. At present, he was living out of his vehicle since there was no work at the ski resort in the summer. I am still amazed that a person living out of his car was so generous as to give me a ride.He dropped me off at the Stratton Motel. I picked up my food drop. I organized the food, to put it in my pack. The whole time I mumbled to myself that I had too much food. I chatted with a northbounder. He was married and looking forward to finishing the trail. He had lost 35 pounds. At one point, his sweat smelled of ammonia. People told him to eat more protein and after a few days the ammonia smell went away.The Stratton Motel and the town in general did not seem inviting. At 5:45 pm I started hiking back to the trail. I got a ride back from an international nurse. She lived near the trail. She asked where I planned to stay that night. She suggested the Crocker Cirque Campsite. I told her I was just planning to get to the spring. She dropped me off at 6 pm, just before sunset. A few hundred yards into the woods, I stopped on the side of the trail and had dinner. Some northbounders came by asking if Stratton was near. I said yes. They thought it odd that I was eating there.After dinner, I continued hiking. I needed water before I could camp. I should have gotten some water when I was in Stratton. I hiked for at least an hour in the dark. I was getting tired but I needed water. I saw a tent with a light on. I sounded like they were listening to a podcast. I said, "Hello. I am thirsty." The man inside the tent came out. He gave me directions to the closest water. It was a streamlet I crossed just a few 100 years before. I filtered the water and treated it with Aqua Mira drops.I camped at the next possible place past the lit tent. It was 50 feet off the trail and NOT flat. But it was soft laying on the leaf litter.