Hikers Welcome Hostel 1795.4 (zero miles, 770 total miles)
I slept like a baby last night, and slept in until 7:30. I got a solid 9 hours of sleep and was so refreshed after being sleep deprived the day before.
Baked Potato came to say good morning, and let me know Halfway had arrived at the hostel. I was excited to hear that, and as I was making my way to say hello to him, I saw Sleepy walking into the bunkhouse.
I hadn’t seen Sleepy since Delaware Water Gap, and it was great to see him. Slowing down has been great for seeing people I hadn’t in quite a while. I also met a SOBO hiker with an absolutely beautiful dog named Franké, pronounced like “Frankie”. It made me so happy.
Baked Potato took Halfway and I to the store for breakfast sandwiches, and when we got back I started transplanting another section of lilies, just several feet over from where they were originally planted.
After that, I swept and vacuumed the upper floor of the bunkhouse, which took much less time than the lower floor yesterday.
Next, I sent a bunch of stuff home at the post office that I’d had in Tater’s car and shook down a couple things here and there from my pack.
I started working on my resupply process, then hung out with Halfway for a while, catching up. While I was sitting with him, I heard from Furprittius, who was working on booking the penthouse at Riverwalk.
I called up Shrek, and she was only 5 miles from Lincoln and down to join. Sour Cream and Sleepy were in as well. I decided to slackpack Moosilauke southbound the next day, a very popular option for hikers that stay at Hikers Welcome.
It is less difficult southbound, and you can walk back to Hiker’s Welcome and arrive whenever you’re done with the day. I packed up a bag for slacking from the extras at the hostel and stashed the rest of my gear away.
I hung out in the common area, eating leftover pizza from the day before and watching a thru hiking documentary with everyone else. The NOBOs got to reminisce watching it up to the hostel, and the SOBOs got to reminisce after that. A lot of hikers had started to arrive, and the hostel was getting very full.
Furps, Sunshine, Fallout, and Coasty arrived to pick us up, and Sour Cream, Sleepy, and I all piled into Furps’ van for a familiar trip back to the trailhead and resort.
We picked Shrek up at the same spot that we had dropped off Clydesdale the other day, and I gave her a hug, super happy to see her. At the resort, Furps took us up to the penthouse, which was incredible.
Three bedrooms, three bathrooms, multiple couches, a huge living room/kitchen combo, two balconies, mountain views, and more. It was amazing, and mind blowing that we were having that experience.
After a few people took showers, we all walked over to Price Chopper for food for the evening, and resupply for a couple of hikers. I needed food for my slackpack tomorrow, and at Legion’s encouragement bought a bunch of stuff I wouldn’t normally carry, like cut pineapple and a turkey sandwich.
Back at the hotel, Fallout made chicken alfredo with pasta for everyone, and we ate at the huge dining room table that had just enough chairs for us.
We hit the hot tub and pool again, though we only had an hour before it closed. Afterwards, we hung out, played a few games of flip cup, and I helped Furps make cheesecake before bed.
I turned in late again, around 1:30, but it had been totally worth it. I knew I had a 10 mile slack the next day, of a mountain I’d done before, so I felt good with that. It had been an awesome night with friends, and a trail experience with some great memories attached.