Sept 13

Honey and Bear

As I was eating breakfast and having coffee this morning, the animal that I saw scurrying around last night made another apperance.  Except this time, there were two of them, and in the daylight I could make out what they were.  Martens!  They chased each other around my campsite, ran off to the shelter, putting on a show for everyone up there, and then bolted off into the woods.  Leaving camp, I started climbing the west peak of Baldplate Mountain.  Nicely crafted stone steps led the way.  Thanks MATC!  I came out of the trees and onto the exposed rock that gave this mountain its name.  The trail was marked with rock cairns as it climbed up this massive, grey dome to the summit.  This was different than a lot of the mountains I had hiked on before.  It wasn't a climb over a jumble of rocks and boulders.  Just a steep, smooth slope, up a massive cap of rock.  It was another cool, clear day, and the views were spectacular at the top.  The trail continued on, downhill for a bit, then up again, to the east peak.  More amazing views.  I feel much better today, and the trail so far has been beautiful.  I went on, down to the Frye Notch lean-to, where I stopped for a lunch break.  The next section of trail was really nice.  The terrain rolled on for several miles, but with a downhill trend overall.  I came to a huge ravine at Dunn Notch, stopping for a minute to look at the huge waterfall there.  The trail continued along flat terrain for the next mile, ending at road crossing that led into Andover, Maine.  Old Tomato, Atom Bomb, and Tamir were there, trying in vain to get a hitch.  It'd been two hours already for them.  Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I joined in on the wait.  After about 30 minutes, we finally had a pickup truck stop and we all climbed in the back.  After 8 miles, down a narrow, winding mountain road we were in Andover.  It was a one-stop light kind of town.  There was a general store, a restaurant, post office, and a church.  That's about it.  The hiker hostel was a couple of blocks away, in a small residential neighborhood.  I ordered some food at the counter inside the general store, and sat down to a hot open faced roast beef sandwich with mashed potatoes and gravy.  I intentionally ate first, before shopping for my resupply groceries.  The store had a good supply of hiker food staples, and an amazing assortment of snacks and treats.  The down side was it was all really expensive.  That's the price you pay for being in the middle of nowhere.  We all lingered around outside, bellies full, wondering what to do next.  We figured it was too late to try to get back to the trail, especially considering how long it took to get a hitch earlier.  There were at least a dozen other hikers in town, and most of them were planning on staying at the hostel.  In the book, there was a listing for another hostel, 3 miles away in East Andover.  We called the number, and they said they'd come pick us up at the store for free.  Apache, Rainbow Eyes, and I agreed on that option.  Kokopelli had just arrived in town, and came along with us to The Cabin.  The property is a beautiful log home.  The downstairs area is the hostel.  A clean, spacious bunk room.  Bathroom.  Living room, with TV, movies, and a guitar.  A full kitchen, and a laundry room.  We were too late for dinner, but we signed up for breakfast in the morning.  Instead, we had bought hamburger meat and all the fixings at the general store.  I seasoned the meat, made up some patties and fired up the outside grill.  Washed down with some Angry Orchard Ginger-Apple Cider, it was a tasty meal.  Our hosts, Honey and Bear, and their son Don, were great.  They were an elderly couple, with strong ties to the AT.  We didn't realize how much amazing trail history this hostel had, but I was really happy that we stumbled into this place.  They used to be trail maintainers themselves, in a section further to the north.  They told us to make sure to pay attention to the rock stairs south of Whitecap.  That was their section for 30 years.  We also learned that Earl Shaffer stayed at this hostel, several times, on his thru-hikes.  A picture of Schaffer, framed with one of his poems, hung on the dining room wall.  The house is full of AT memorabilia.  Post cards and hand crafted gifts are all over the place, given to Honey and Bear from dozens of previous hikers that had stayed there over the years.  This place is right up there with the Blueberry Patch as my favorite two hostels on the trail.  The accommodations were great, but the hosts were what made this place so special.

Climbing the east peak of Baldplate.
For scale, look for Apache, wearing a maroon shirt,
just up and to the left of the center of the picture.