Date: 2006-08-10
From: Rangeley, ME

To: Rangeley, ME
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: 0

Cell good.I woke up with everyone else this morning and went downstairs and had a continental breakfast with them. I then said goodbye to them as they loaded into the truck. I'm at peace with that, and I'm comfortably sitting in a chair writing my journals. Incidently, the ones written for the last couple days were just done a few minutes ago.I'm staying at "The Gull Pond Lodge" just outside of Rangeley. The owner is a fellow named Bob O'Brien who had lived in Chittanango, NY before retiring here 12 years ago. I've been telling him about the changes that are happening in Central New York in our conversations, and it's nice to have something in common with him. It will be nice to have an extra day to do that, too. Bob has a nice little place right on, what else, the Gull Pond in Rangeley. He has the upstairs set up as a bunkhouse, which is very comfortable. Some hostels provide a bed, and a bathroom, sometime with a shower sometimes not. At some hostels you use your own sleeping bag, Bob provides a bed with sheets and blankets, which is much more comfortable.Rangeley, Maine, is a tourist place that attracts people year round. There are beautiful lakes all around for boating and swimming in summer, the fall colors attract people, there is skiing and snowmobiling in winter, and fishing is big in the spring. It has numerous places to eat in town, and a nice size IGA Supermarket for supplies. Bob tells me this is the largest town between here and Katahdin. The next few towns (Stratton, Caratunk, and Monson) aren't very big. Fortunately, I have maildrops setup in all three of them, so the supplies I'll need will be there as long as I don't get there late Saturday or Sunday.I'm trying to get a final date on when I'll summit Katahdin to coordinate when Sue will get here. I probably won't know until I reach Monson for sure, but I'm back in the Aug 25th to 27th range again. My arrival at Katahdin can be tricky. I'll probably be out of contact with Sue while I'm in "The Hundred Mile Wilderness," and there are a few rules at Baxter State Park that limit my options. Baxter Park is very remote and rustic, I'm told. It does not have the ammentities we are used to. It limits how many people are in the park at any one time, there is no electricity, definitely no telephones, and cell phones if they work are frowned upon. As a thru-hiker, I'm allowed to hike into a camping area that is set aside for just thru-hikers. We're allowed to stay 1 night, and must summit the next day and leave right after that. If I leave the trail after Monson for any reason, I would no longer be considered a thru-hiker to the park, and I wouldn't be allowed to stay in that campground.My options are to get to that campground the day Sue gets to Millinocket, ME. She would then stay in a motel in Millinocket that night, and enter the park in the morning to meet me. Millinocket is the nearest town to Baxter Park. The second option would be for me to get to the bottom of Katahdin where the campground is located, hitch a ride into Millinocket, and stay in the motel with Sue. I'm favoring option two, we'll play that as it goes.Oh one more rule of Baxter State Park is that they only let so many cars into the park each day. In order not to be denied entry, thru-hiker's cars start lining up at the gate at 5:00 am. Maine residents can get a guaranteed entry for that day with a special pass if they request it in advance. Their spot is held all day, whether they show up or not. If you look at my target dates, you'll see it is a weekend. I hope this isn't a big factor on whether we get in or not. Again. we can only do what we can only do.Today I noticed how fashion conscious New Englanders are. They seem to like flashy loud colors and foot attire. The reason I'm thinking this is because I keep seeing license plate brackets, stickers in the windows of their cars, and T-shirts with the words Red Sox. I know they have a funny accent, I guess it's because they spell words differently, too.   I've used today to catch up on phone calls as well as rest. I'm sitting at a picnic pavillion out of the rain enjoying myself. Today is another zero where it is raining out. I don't dodge the rain on purpose, but it certainly is nice when I do. I went to the library and read Trail Journals to see where some of the other hikers are. Some are easy to find, others are not. I can get an idea of who is ahead or behind me by their last entry location, and I can guess how much farther they've gone. I hope that someday after our hikes we can get ahold of each other and share our pictures and war stories. I saw my first moose in Maine this evening! It was in a gully just under the town garage. Bob said the moose are often there because the town stores road salt there. The salt leaches into the gully, and the moose crave salt, therefore, they go there a lot. My camera is now tempermental, and it didn't turn on fast enough to get a picture of the moose. I'm told there will be more opportunities to see them, hopefully I'll get a picture.Three hikers I've never met before showed up here tonight, Mud Diver, Bear Bear, and Mummy Toesone. This hiker community is quite large, and we all have one thing in common - reaching Katahdin. I'll be with people the rest of the hike, maybe different ones each night. It's about the smiles and not the miles.Old GoatSue's Note: Old Goat told me a sad story about a thru-hiker who is looking for his dog. The guy got this dog six years ago and brought the dog with him on the AT. The dog has been with him since Springer Mountain, but disappeared about 40 miles back. The hostel owner drove the guy back to the place where the dog disappeared to try and help him find the dog. Old Goat, Hindsfeet, and Tink they helped the guy look for the dog when they were where the dog disappeared, but they couldn¢t find the dog and the dog didn¢t respond to any of their calls. The guy finally gave up and went on a couple times, but went back to look a couple more times - looking for the dog about 14 hours over all. He just had to try and find the dog again, so Bob drove the guy back to where he last saw the dog so he could try again.Some hikers said the dog didn't look very healthy - it was tired and not eating very well. I hope the dog is okay.When I hiked those two days with Old Goat (so many months ago!), a couple young guys came by us with a dog. The dog had so much energy that it kept exploring the area as the guys talked with us for a few minutes. I remember thinking how many more miles that dog was putting on each day than it¢s owner because it didn¢t stop moving around while the guy talked with us. The dog was in good health, so I didn¢t think for a second about how the dog would be months from then.There are so many things about the rigors of thru-hiking that one doesn¢t realize nor think about until it¢s actually happening, or when someone we love is doing it. Wow. This is a profound experience and I applaud those who do it!!