It was cold again as I got out of bed. But I didn’t care. I moved quickly through my morning routine. I opted to skip my oatmeal and just wolf down a few power bars. I didn’t have time to spare. I was on a mission. A mission to get to town and eat real food. 

I had left Gorham with a resupply that was purposefully designed to be bland. I wanted things that wouldn’t upset my stomach. And on top of that, I hadn’t been able to eat much of it for the first two wakes. Now, now that I was feeling better, I was ravenous. I was ready to eat real food. I had dreamt of pizza and I was already on to thinking about cheesesteaks. 

There was only one real climb today and it was first thing out of camp. I walked up it waiting for it to get bad. Waiting until I needed to stop to catch my breath or until my legs burned. But unlike so many of the recent climbs, that never happened. I just slowly cruised my way up until eventually I was at the top, looking out over the beautiful lakes of Maine. 

From there, the rest of the day was a 13 mile cruise to town. And i let it fly. I didn’t have a choice in the matter. I needed to. I needed to get to real food as soon as I could. I felt like a wild dog. 

I caught up to a few hikers as I was walking up a small hill. They pulled over to let me pass but the two women at the front of their group walked with me for a while chatting. They were lovely. One was Dutch and the other from Ossining, only a town or two over from where I had grown up. 

We walked together for maybe 10 minutes, talking mostly about the trail but also a bit about our lives outside of it. We talked about the Camino (the Dutch woman had walked it a few years back) and growing up in westchester.

I felt bad, I was enjoying our conversation but I also could feel the other two slipping back every time there was a slight incline. I tried to slow down, but I just couldn’t do it. I powered off, without saying goodbye or explaining that the food made me do it. 

I made it to the road almost an hour before I had expected to. I stopped for a quick second to drink a sprite in the shade (thank you trail magic cooler!) before getting in positing and sticking out my thumb. My stomach growled at every car that flew past me. 

And then I saw a small sprinter van pull up and slow down. Victory! Rainbow pulled over and offered me a ride in her van, Avanti. We chatted as she told me about how she had hiked the trail in 2004 and what that was like. Now that she and her wife had aged out of long distance overnighters, they had built out this sprinter van. 

When we got to town she gave me a quick tour of the van. I put aside my hunger for a second to enjoy it. It was very well done! With benches that converted to a mattress, a stove, a table and even a running toilet, it was all anyone could want! 

I ran across the street to the first pub looking place I saw and immediately recognized some thru hikers. Optimist, Big Sexy and Timberlake were all sitting at a table and I joined them. We caught up for a minute and I told them how I was starved and ready to eat for the first time in a week. 

Big Sexy looked at me and said “I’ll be honest. The food here is shit. If this is a big meal for you, I’d go across the street. Not trying to ditch you I swear.” Before he was done talking I was out the door. 

I sat down at a table at the next bar and ordered a caprese salad and fish and chips (figuring that would be an easier reintroduction to real food than a burger would be). I have never eaten anything faster in my life than that caprese salad. One minute it was there. The next minute I was left with an empty plate and a sweaty face. 

I ate most of the fish and chips as well before my stomach decided there was only so much fried food I could reintroduce to it at once. I pushed back my plate and decided it was time to find a place to stay. I called the hostel first – looking for a bed for me and one for my friend Torey who was coming in to hike the next two days. No dice. They only had one bed. 

I tried the first hotel on google. They had one room left. For $380. Then I tried the next hotel and the next and the next. They were all booked. I was starting to think the best plan was going to be to head back to the trail when the hostel called back. “Would you mind sleeping on an air mattress?” 

Is the pope Jewish? “Of course not”. 

I made it to the hostel and caught up with the thru hikers from the other restaurant as they were still complaining about their meal. We spent the rest of the day sitting around and chatting about god knows what. It was a fun and relaxing time.

The only negative came when I stepped on the scale and realized I had lost close to 10 pounds since I had gotten to NH. I’m going to have eat a lot more candy these next two weeks. 

Key stats:

Miles: 14

Elevation gained: 2800 ft

Mile marker: 1978

Percent of trail remaining: 10%