Day 22

Last night I fell asleep almost immediately and slept soundly through the night.  I was up and on the trail a little after 6:00 a.m.  That seems to be the routine.  The trail this morning was mainly through hardwoods with a few climbs but no views.  I made it to the road crossing at ME 15 by 10:30 a.m. and called Shaw’s Hiker Hostel in Monson to have them come and pick me up.

I’m staying in the bunkhouse, which is a converted garage containing 7 single beds and 1 double bed.  I was able to get a shower and do laundry, and then went on the prowl for food.  There’s a deli a little more than a block away where I ordered and ate two large sandwiches, a bag of chips, a Pepsi and a large brownie.  After I got back to the hostel I picked up the food box Karen sent here.

I’m spending 2 nights at the hostel.  Tomorrow will busy going through the food and sorting it.  After I leave Monson I’ll get into The 100 Mile Wilderness, a section that is remote and only accessible by logging roads.  The hostel offers a food drop service in the Wilderness for a fee, where they will meet you at a specific location with food that you’ve set aside.  I plan to use the service but need to decide the drop point, how many days of food I’ll need to carry to get there and how many additional days of food I’ll need to make it through the rest of the Wilderness.

While I was reading about the food drop service a hostel employee walked up to me and asked where he knew me from.  It turns out we used to see each other in Kennesaw Mountain National Battlefield Park, back home, when we’d both be out walking.  He always wore a backpack since he was training to hike the AT, and we’d talk from time to time about hiking.  He completed a through hike a couple of years ago and now spends 6 months of the year working here and the other 6 months back in Georgia, just down the road from where I live.  It’s a small world.

Even though I’m not really hungry I need to go eat again.  I don’t want to wake up hungry in the middle of the night.

I hiked 9 miles today.

Prone to Wander