Appalachian Trail (day 82/83) - Mt Moriah to Barn Hostel Gorham (zero day) / mile 1900

"I didn't have a shower since Pennsylvania" Snail

A nero day followed by a zero!

In the morning I've fairly quickly got through the remaining 7 miles of the trail to the road and got a hitchhike to Gorham where I was planning to stay for the next two days. White Mountain's really kicked my butt, tendons in my legs were hurting even while I was going through fairly easy terrain and I needed some time to rest.

I've managed to get a quick hitchhike to town, I ate a footlong Subway and went to check in at the Barn Hostel even though it was just noon. I've got greeted by Biscuit and MacGyver an older section hiking couple I've met at the Madison Spring Hut, they've been taking some time off trail as Biscuit's knees were not doing good, she already had one of them replaced in the past because of hiking. I've advised them to hike Carter's Dome I've just finished (they got a shuttle to Gorham from an earlier mile) southbound as the descent was very hard on the knees and that's what they ended up doing.

Paul who was the owner of the hostel checked me in early so I could use all the facilities straight away, hostel was an old wooden barn turned into a hiker accomodation, it had a lot of character to it which I really liked. I told Paul straight away that I will be staying for two days. Few hours later Tum Tum arrived and took a bunk downstairs right next to mine, he was planning to get back on trail the following day but he changed his mind in the morning as his knees were hurting so he also got a day off. Paul took us in his old Cadillac to Walmart, I've resupplied and bought things for breakfast and dinner, mainly eggs, tomatoes, sourdough bread and few canned soups.

A lot of people were coming down from this section injured and bruised. Paul had a call from an Indian girl who broke her leg and needed a shuttle to a hospital, Hiking Grandma (her actual trail name was Glob Trotting Nanna or GTN, I got it wrong) slipped and bashed her head on a rock six miles away from Gorham. She cut the skin on her scull and was bleeding profusely up to a point where she called an ambulance. She kept on hiking with her head wrapped in a bandana and the rescue team hiked out towards her meeting her half a mile before the road. She got taken to the hospital and they put fourteen stitches on her head, she had a black eye, bruised legs and was wandering if she should carry on with the hike or not. I suggested her to take at least couple days off and then make a final decision.

On our second day few other friends arrived: Iceman, Push, Magician and Mufasa were staying at the barn as well! It really felt like a family gathering, I went to Dollar General and bought a big case of beer for everybody. I met here another old buddy - Snail! He had to take some time off trail as the Lyme disease he was struggling with came back and so he was on antibiotics, I told him to come visit us in the hostel once he's done shopping.

We went to a local brewery with Iceman, Push and Magician for a meal and then came back to the hostel and started watching Ghostbusters. Snail came not long after, we shared few beers with him and snuck him to the bathroom so he could take a shower, apparently he didn't have one since Pennsylvania few hundred miles ago. His stove burner was broken, so I gave him my spare one I didn't needed at this point anyway. He stayed for an hour and as always headed back because "snails stayed on trail".

We kept on eating good food, drinking Budweiser, talking and watching movies all afternoon, it was great. We watched Ghostbusters 2 and Ghoulies which were shockingly bad but kind of funny at the same time. Paul was a great storyteller, he thru hiked the AT in 1974, he said that he only met two rangers on the trail back then, thru hiking wasn't very popular and even the hitchhiking was only possible at the back of the lorries. People in towns were looking and treating him like a homeless person. He was planning to sell the hostel this September after 15 years of running it due to a spine related health problems, he was going back to his hometown in Maryland for a well deserved retirement.

Overall it was a very good two days of recharging and I felt ready to go back on trail tomorrow.