8/27/01
The rain began last night around 1 a.m. and it was accompanied by strong winds through the night. My tent was situated on a wooden platform constructed of planks. I used large rocks to anchor the four corners of the tent, as well as the vestibule. Sometime during the night the wind must have been so strong it pulled a couple of the anchor points loose, resulting in a little water getting in the tent. It was still drizzling and water was blowing off the trees as I packed up to resume hiking. This is the first time I've had to pack a wet tent the entire trip, except for the April 17th snowstorm. Redneck had left ahead of me, so I hiked alone up the 1300' climb in heavy fog. There were open exposed rocks along the way and as I hiked through those areas, heavy wind accompanied the fog and drizzle. Soon I reached the summit of South Crocker Mtn. but I didn't spend any time up there in the cold, wet conditions. I descended to a gap, then climbed to the summit of North Crocker Mtn. Conditions were beginning to improve slightly, but there were no views, so I continued north. The next 5 miles involved a general descent to a road crossing. With lots of wet roots and rocks I couldn't get a good rhythm going, so it took all morning to get down to the road. I reached the road around noon and began working on a hitch into Stratton, ME. There were few cars on the road, one or two passing by every five minutes or so, and most were logging trucks. I patiently (can you believe it!) waited over an hour without success before finally getting picked up.
Medagator had blue blazed down a road to cut off some miles and joined me on the hitch to town. We were dropped off across the street from the White Wolf Inn, one of three small motel/restaurants in a one block area along with two small stores. Prior to my hike of the AT I met with Tennessee and Snell back home to review their 2000 thru-hike and make notes of places not to miss and other highlights of their trip. My notes included a stern warning from Tennessee NOT to stay at the White Wolf Inn as they had a very bad experience there. However, the Fab 5 all wanted to stay there, so I figured I'd take a chance and stay there with them. I dropped my pack outside the entrance to the Inn and went inside. Priceless (who had blue blazed from Sugarloaf ) and Redneck were eating lunch, so I joined them at the table. The proprietor came over and brought me a menu and got a couple of refills for Priceless and Redneck. When I ordered, it was obvious that she was busy multitasking between serving food and running the inn portion of the business. She was very short, curt and unfriendly to us in verbal exchanges regarding ordering dessert and drink refills. It was clear to me by now that the woman was overstressed, overworked and in desperate need of some help running the inn and restaurant. When she asked if I wanted anything else (meaning dessert) I replied that I didn't want dessert, but wanted to know if there were any more rooms available. My response ticked her off, because I guess she couldn't focus on both the meal and the rooms at the same time. She got curt with me and I should have made the decision to stay elsewhere, but Redneck had already paid for a room and she was out of rooms, so I paid her for an additional person charge of $10.70 in Redneck's room when I paid her for my lunch, and then went with Redneck and Priceless to the room upstairs on the second floor above the restaurant.
I spent the afternoon showering, drying out my wet tent, picking up my food drop, bump box and care packages from Ken and Marcia Stern. I spent two hours in the laundromat washing virtually everything that could be washed, including my sleeping bag, which was beginning to reek of thru-hiker smells. Priceless came down to the laundromat to entertain me as I attempted journaling, so I didn't get much accomplished except enjoying his company while my clothes dried. Phantom and Finn were by now in town doing their laundry and running errands. Finally around 5 p.m. I finished laundry and walked back to the White Wolf Inn. Our tiny room was cramped with gear and five of us packed in like sardines. I went next door to buy some denatured alcohol for my stove and some milk and a six pack of Maine ale to share with the fellas. I returned to the room and we enjoyed an ale together before dinner. We ate dinner downstairs (despite the poor service and attitude, the White Wolf Inn has great food) and finished dinner around 9 p.m. The restaurant /bar closed and we all went back to the room for the night. Medagator joined us in the room and we watched TV while I did some more journaling. At 10 p.m. we started watching the "Animal Planet" station. Somehow we stayed up through five 30 minute shows and we finally turned off the TV at 12:30 a.m. for the night. Medagator stealth camped on the balcony while the five of us slept inside the tiny room. It was nice to be in a bunk bed with clean clothes and a fresh shower. The food was great at the Inn and I was ready for a good night's sleep. Today's stats: low 55, high 75. Cloudy and drizzle to mostly sunny. Today's mileage; 7.3; cumulative mileage; 1980.3.
