The Dynamic Duo

Sara and Jason had somehow caught a ride to Portland and they met us at the depot. It was my first time to meet Jason, and I found him outgoing and charming, but I gotta tell you that those kids smelled bad; like armpit or wearing the same unwashed clothing for many days, as it turns out they had. They didn’t even realize how bad they smelled, and we would become a bit more used to it as we joined the ranks of the unlaundered. When you are a thru hiker, you carry everything you need to live in your pack. As Bill Bryson’s friend Katz discovered, those packs can get a bit heavy when you are carrying them for 15-20 miles a day. So, those who have been doing it for a while learn to pare down, including extra clothes, and laundry opportunities can be few and far between.
There had been a bit of a discussion about how we were going to find transport back to the trail, a ride of some 3-4 hours, so it was decided that we would rent a car in Portland, Maine. That turned out to be one of the wisest moves of the whole trip. The rental car clerk informed us that our car was one of the bigger ones, and was kind of yellow, but not really yellow. It turned out to be a two door and was screaming yellow. But the back seat (my domain) was very comfortable and we could always find the car in a parking lot.

Debi & Sara in front of our big, slightly yellow rental car

Now, Debi and I had thought we were going to be one of those aforementioned thru hikers, at least for 5 or 6 days. So, we had pared down our packs to the bare minimum, and left some items that, in hindsight, it would have been pretty nice to have. Topping this “wish list” , were our digital cameras. We eventually bought 4 of those lightweight little disposable ones, but were pretty disappointed in the picture quality. They definitely did not do justice to the spectacular Maine fall colors. We also had no shampoo, comb, curling iron or blow dryer (yeah, really roughing it), and it got to the point where another shirt would have been rather a nice thing to have, but on the whole, it was kind of liberating: no agonizing decisions on what to wear that day. “I think I’ll wear the trail pants, trail shirt, trail socks and shoes, fleece and jacket.” I memorized it after a couple of days. No make-up or hair fixing. If only I could pare my everyday wardrobe and lifestyle down so handily! Of course, if we had known we would have the car, we would have augmented our packing accordingly.
Sara, Jason and Ricky ( for a reason I never did find out, they called their threesome the “Girl Scouts”) had, for a while, been hiking with some other guys they had met along the trail. There is really a whole culture, community and vocabulary amongst the AT hikers. On the whole, they are, like the “Girl Scouts” , in their 20’s and inbetween college and career. There are trail books at some of the shelters and landmarks for hikers to record observations, thoughts and advice; and necessarily they will meet other hikers at approved shelters and hostels, so they get know quite a few of the others after a fashion Some they were with off and on, but there were several who had become a permanent part of their trail “family.” We would come to know them also, and they always made us feel welcome and comfortable; never like we were in the way or like two middle-aged (though very youthful and attractive, mind you,) women whose company was to be endured.

Jay, who was hiking with his Golden Labrador Retriever, Honey, was a sweetheart. He was from South Carolina and had the accent and a droll sense of humor. At one point in their journey, the hikers had to provide their full names, and to Jay’s horror, it came to light that his real name is “Julius”. He seemed to prefer his trail name: “Good Old Boy”. Honey was also a sweetheart, and loved being on the trail. She had her own jacket and backpack, which was referred to as the “K-9 Chuck Wagon”. She had to carry her own dog food! The guys all liked her, but got a little mad sometimes, as she liked to “cut off” directly in front of them on the trail. One day there was something wrong with Honey’s tail and Jay said, as he often did, that he was going to trade her off for a dog that wasn’t “broken”. “She’s just a dog,” he would say, “I can get another one back home in a heartbeat,” but it was all talk. Sara really loved Honey too, and fed her so much Beef Jerky that Jay said she thought of the Oberto’s as her treat bag. Pace was from North Carolina and was Yankee all the way. No slow southern accent for him. He talked fast and was really into “gear”, finding the best and latest, and contacting companies about gear defects and getting replacements. Actually, they were ALL into contacting companies about defective gear and getting replacements, but Pace was particulary good at it; very tenacious. Pace had started out hiking with his brother, but was going it alone just a week or so into the trip. We assumed Pace was a trail name, but it turns out it really was his name. Sara, who is 6’ tall, had been dubbed “High Pockets” on account of her long legs; Ricky was Bricklayer, a moniker that had something to do with a shelter and strategically placed weather-blocking bricks which he had to keep replacing, and Jason was Cross Stitch on account of his newly acquired habit of cross stitching a map of the AT from a kit that Sara had bought for him at one of the stops.

Honey and the K-9 Chuck Wagon

We drove the car to a charming little hostel in Rangely, Maine where the group was staying that night. This area of Maine strongly reminded me of the areas of Oregon we drove through on our last vacation, just a few miles in from the coast. It was wooded and picturesque with windy roads, and, while we were there, eternally raining. In the hostel, there were several rooms with bunks, a bathroom, and breakfast provided next morning. I guess this was one of the nicer hostels they had stayed in, but a bit spendy at $20 each. Bob, the elderly proprietor, was charming, solicitous, and talkative.
The boys who had hiked that day: Ricky, Jay, Pace and Blue Phoenix (he was only with the others that one night, and I never did learn his real name) had quite a tale to tell. They had never seen the trail like this; never hiked in such conditions. It turns out that the info naming Maine as the toughest part of the trail was correct. There were several rivers to cross, and due to the unrelenting, uncharacteristic rain, they were running pretty high and wild. But the part we found hard to believe was that the water ran even higher on parts of the trail than in the rivers; waist deep in many cases, and they all swore it was true. Honey often had to swim for it. Sara had told us how Jay always hiked in his “Crocs”, kind of insubstantial rubber-plastic shoes with a heel strap.http://www.nofeargear.com/nofear/dept.asp?dept_id=6072&ad_id=ADW&key_id=crocs&”>croc footwear He joked that his trail shoe was the Croc with the heel strap down, and his camp shoe was the Croc with the heel strap up. Jay had worn out many pairs of Crocs on the trail, and had even contacted the company with the complaint that the shoes weren’t holding up, but they replied that the shoes really weren’t designed for trail hiking, so no replacements. Well, that day, with all of that wading, Jay was forced to wear his hiking shoes! I thought that was kind of funny, since “Croc” sounds like a water shoe, but he couldn’t wear them hiking in the water….......
The guys were exhausted, but exhilarated to have come through such hardships and to have an audience to wow. We cautiously advanced our trail names of choice, but were “shot down”. We would be given appropriate trail names at a later date, we were informed, if and when we had “earned” them. Hmph.

Now this aqua-hiking was a bit more than we had bargained for. As I’m sure you all know we are pretty amazing women, in great…….well, pretty good……..shape for our age. But hiking in waist deep water with a pack on our back……that didn’t sound like MY idea of a good time, for sure, and to my relief, I found that Debi and even Sara shared my sentiments. Sara had been feeling a bit run-down anyway, and the idea of a few days break from the trail sounded good to her, and after all, we had the car…….with unlimited miles……..
So, as the boys got ready to resume, with Jason, their next leg of the trail, the girls set off on a little motoring Maine expedition.

Getting ready for a big day’s hike (some of us are only pretending)
Jason, Debi, Ricky, UltraMom, Blue Phoenix, Pace, Honey and Jay

The girls are getting ready for an adventure of their own

..........to be continued….......