South Crocker Mtn 1999.9 to Stratton, ME 2006.1 (6.2 miles, 980.7 total miles)
It was a rough night and morning, with wind and rain throughout the whole evening. I entertained myself for a while before bed by listening to music and playing Space Pinball on my phone, a throwback from when I was a kid and I’d unwind after school. It helped with the mental strain of sleeping in a wet, stuffy tent.
My alarm went off at 5:30, and I hit snooze several times until just after 6AM. My clothes were wet, but comparatively that was the least of my concerns.
The rain had stopped, though drops were falling off the trees above me from the wind due to being on top of a mountain. I put music on right away, and packed up, the thought of finding a dryer for our stuff today keeping me going.
I managed to pack away my wet rain fly and tent, and was working on putting away my tent poles and footprint when it began raining in earnest.
I cursed aloud, as my pack began to get soaked, since I was wearing my rain jacket and couldn’t use that as a cover. Sunshine was still in her tent, and I finished packing in the pouring rain.
There was nothing else to do for it but hike. I put my phone in a plastic bag in my shorts pocket and headed down South Crocker and up North Crocker. I passed the 2000 mile marker right away, stepping over and around huge puddles that took up the whole width of the trail.
It didn’t take long, though the rain didn’t stop for my first two miles or so. The dry socks and underwear I’d put on in the morning were soaked through quickly.
I kept my rain jacket hood on till it stopped raining. My favorite playlist was cycling through on my phone, the number one thing getting me through how uncomfortable I was.
Still, I wasn’t having the worst time ever. After the beginning of the descent down North Crocker, the hiking got a lot easier. Everything was downhill from there to Route 27 in Stratton.
The forest dripped with condensation around me, and if I jostled a tree on my way by I was peppered with rain drops. My pack felt heavy with the extra water weight my very wet tent was carrying.
I found my brain would forget I was wet and uncomfortable for minutes at a time and I could ignore it for a bit. I admired all sorts of fungi around me – Maine seems to have the biggest abundance and variety of mushrooms – and saw toads and frogs hop across the trail.
I got my brain into a flow state a few times, and jammed out as I hiked, often singing out loud. I was about 5 miles in before I saw any other hikers, and passed a couple different groups going south near the road.
We were supposed to resupply and dry our stuff in town, then hike another 5 miles. When I was .8 from the road just before 10AM, I texted Sunshine and Catchup to check in with them.
Catchup called me, and said he was on North Crocker. He’d checked the weather report, which no longer was forecasting a break in the weather after 2PM.
Catchup said there was now an expectation of thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. We were set to start the Bigelows later in the day, a rugged alpine zone with our last 4k mountains for the rest of Maine until Katahdin.
He didn’t think it was a great idea to ascend 3,000 feet again with the storms that were being called for. None of our gear or clothes would dry and we’d have wet things for several days until Monson.
I was fine with either option, as I really wanted Catchup and Sunshine to have free reign over the end of their hikes. Catchup said he’d call Sunshine and see if she liked that idea.
I told him she probably would, because she did mention something about staying in Stratton if we needed to when I said bye to her in the morning.
When I was almost at the road I saw two texts had come in. The first was from Catchup to Sunshine and said that he’d booked space for the three of us at The Maine Roadhouse, and was just waiting on Sunshine to give us the go ahead.
The second was from Shrek, responding to an earlier text I’d sent, saying that she’d just summited Katahdin. I was so happy and proud of her that I started crying right then and there, overcome with the emotion of the last few days.
The road was within eyesight by then, and I made my way down to the parking lot at 10:20. I found a couple cool signs about the Bigelows and moose, and saw that Sunshine had texted that she was in to stay at the hostel, and was almost at the road.
When she arrived a little bit later, we called and spoke with one of the Jens, who told us she’d be there in 15 minutes. She pulled up in a big SUV, and offered Sunshine and I towels right away, which were very appreciated.
She asked if we wanted to stop at the gas station for a snack before getting cleaned up. Flagstaff General Store had a plethora of huge portions of baked goods for only a few dollars each. I got a big brownie/cookie portion, and a huge square of banana bread for $7 total.
We arrived at The Maine Roadhouse just after 11AM. Jen gave us a tour, and I was surprised to see how spectacular the hostel was. I hadn’t done any research into it, only heard things here and there, so it was a totally unexpected treat.
The hostel had a huge full kitchen, a large common area with beautiful woodwork, an extremely nice bunkhouse, and cozy private rooms.
After dropping our stuff, Sunshine and picked out town clothes and took showers. It was absolutely heaven to have gone from my hardest morning on trail, and hiking for miles soaking wet, to suddenly having a warm shower and real bed to sleep in.
It had only been two days since staying with Ashley, but with the unrelenting rain and wet tent, it felt like it had been much longer.
After my shower, I put on sweatpants, a tank top, and a hoodie. I couldn’t believe how comfortable I felt. Jen showed me where I could dry out my tent, and I realized it truly had felt like my tent was never going to be dry again.
Catchup called and said he was on his way, while Sunshine and I perused the wall of this year’s hiker photos that the Roadhouse had on one wall. We recognized many familiar faces, and I saw Sandals’ photo on the wall.
I knew he was hiking with Shrek and the Gummy Gang, so I texted him as well to see if he’d finished his hike as well. He told me he had, and I experienced another moment of happiness for my trail friends and family who had accomplished such an amazing feat of physical and mental endurance.
Sunshine and I realized Two Braids was at the hostel as well, and I was thrilled to see her and catch up. We’d been just missing each other since we first met in VT, and I was glad we had finally caught up to each other again.
Two Braids and I were watching Rick & Morty on the common room TV with SOBOs Marissa and Broken Toe when Catchup arrived at 1PM. Half an hour later, Jen took a group of us back to the General Store to get lunch.
We rode in the small school bus that the Roadhouse has for shuttling. I picked up steak and cheese subs with fries for Sunshine and I. I grabbed a coffee as well, and devoured my food at the store and on the way back to the hostel. It was possibly the best cheesesteak I’d ever had, or it could have just been the hiker hunger.
Back at the hostel, I threw in laundry with Catchup and Sunshine. Catchup and I played a couple games of cornhole before I laid down for a bit and downloaded music on Spotify.
At 5:30, the other Jen drove us to the Backstrap Bar and Grill, where we got dinner. I didn’t have much of an appetite after eating the steak and cheese only a few hours before, so I just got an app, salad, and dessert.
When we returned to the hostel, I chatted with Two Braids for a few minutes, then joined a couple other hikers in the common area, where they were watching the Woodstock 99 documentary on Netflix.
I caught the final episode of the three part series, with Sunshine, Catchup, and Two Braids joining halfway through. It was quite fascinating to watch, and I was glad I’d sat down for it.
Over dinner, Sunshine and Catchup had decided they wanted to take a zero at the hostel the next day. Sunshine wasn’t feeling well physically and Catchup had some writing to do.
I stayed out of it, wanting them to have the end of their hike the way they wanted. After turning in for the evening, I started thinking how I would have really preferred to hike.
I was all about the slow plan through New Hampshire and Maine, and stopping at all the cool places, but really wanted to hike more.
Not only that, I had spent an inordinate amount of money beyond the monthly budget I’d set for myself before hiking. Mostly on food, drinks, and going out, but also resupply food. Hiker hunger is expensive.
I hadn’t even fully calculated what I’d spent in July and so far in August yet, not having the heart to face it. Thru hikes can be very expensive, depending on how they are done, and I’d been on the “platinum blazing” plan the last month and a half.
I considered hiking out the next day and doing two short days so Sunshine and Catchup could meet me after their zero. I had to remember I had another 2-3 months of hiking to potentially pay for, while they could both be working and making money by next month if they wanted to.
I had neglected to take that particular facet of a flip flop into account. While NOBOs are in celebratory, end-of-hike budget mode, I still have a long way to go money wise.
I fell asleep before I could make any concrete plans of what to do the next day. I realized I didn’t even know how much The Maine Roadhouse costs when I enthusiastically went along with the idea to spend the night.
I had to be more responsible if I was going to hike all the way from Harper’s Ferry to Georgia after Katahdin. Just because I could blow my budget, didn’t mean I should. It would be time to face the music in the morning.