We woke up at 4:45am primed to have get to the hostel. We both needed showers and clothes laundered – I needed to pick up my mail drop and do a major resupply. We briefly enjoyed a gorgeous sunrise while we quickly ate breakfast and packed up.
We hit the trail pre-dawn. We both stopped at the Imp Campsite to gather water. It was only 8:00am and Black Santa was nowhere to be found – I guess he wanted to get to the hostel as bad as we did.
After a tough climb up and over Mount Moriah, the trail got very nice. We were cruising, we did the last three mile stretch in an hour, spilling out onto US 2 at 11:00am – we covered almost eleven miles on the day.
We entered the hostel and dressed in loaner clothes. Greyhound and I were given a room (with our own bathroom) and we both took quick showers. I borrowed a pair of hair clippers and trimmed my beard off – it was getting to be a little too much to handle again. (Greyhounds been starting at me all night – I think my lack of a beard freaks her out).
We decided to hitch into town and grab lunch – Black Santa had already taken the shuttle and was running errands by now. We found and open restaurant and sat in the bar to eat lunch. We both pulled out our AT Guides while we waited for our food and attempted to plan out the next week of hiking.
A nice guy at the bar introduced himself to us as a past thru-hiker and marked all sorts of things to look out for in Greyhound’s book. We ate lunch and quickly left, stopping at the outfitter so I could buy a new pair of trail runners – and the only thing they had were the same blue pair of Merrells I had just gotten rid of in Manchester Center, VT. I bought them, but I wasn’t happy about it.
We made our way over to the gas station to buy some snacks and take them back to the hostel. We quickly got a ride from a couple pumping gas and soon found ourselves back at the hostel.
After relaxing with Black Santa and eating leftover pizza, Greyhound and I take the shuttle to Walmart for a proper resupply.
Upon our return, I hang out with Black Santa outside while Greyhound relaxed in the room. While we’re talking, he expresses his desire to summit Katahdin no later than the 7th of August. I explained I didn’t see how I could finish in that timeframe and enjoy myself in the process. But I didn’t make up my mind just then – I decided to sleep on it.
How to Hike 2000 Miles 