The Kindness the Strangers

Hey darlins. The good news is that we are FINALLY through Maine! I am writing this post in New Hampshire!! Can't you feel the difference? It took a lot longer than we would have liked, but 6 weeks later we have the first state crossed off our list and 300 miles under our hip belts. There isn't any bad news persay, but we do now have to conquer The White Mountains, which most agree are 100 miles of rough terrain, drastic ups and downs (aka lots of 1000+ foot climbs and descents), and large stretches of hiking above treeline, which means bad weather is a lot worse.

First I want to give major shout outs of gratitude. The last few days of Maine were a REAL struggle for me. I didn't know if I could do it, but I DID! I hiked the "hardest part of Maine" with my funny feet and bruised legs and if that is all I ever did, I would be incredibly proud of myself. Again this is said after spending two nights in a bed, on the trail I was convinced I was quitting after I finished Maine. Not quitting the whole trail, but I did not feel ready to proceed from Maine to the equally difficult New Hampshire without a really long break. I crave the parts of the trail that I haven't seen yet, the trail with some mountains, not many massive mountains every day, the ones with an actual trail you actually walk, as opposed to the ones we deal with which are essentially bouldering while climbing up or down 1000 feet within a mile. Anyway my feet are still killing me (the boots we bought me were a disaster, and we had to return them the next day and spend an afternoon hitching to town) my body is bruised ( I have an epic bruise on my butt that Andrew took a picture of and then just accidentally showed the whole hostel) and I felt like I had really reached my edge. Again I really want to hike more of this trail, but starting is Maine is so brutal, you get all the hardest stuff first, it's freakin discouraging. Then I got to town and picked up a package from three girlfriends filled with an MP3 player, food goodies and words of encouragement, which instantly lifted my heart. Big thanks to Amy, Christine, and Melinda, they packed this box full of lara bars, via coffee, soft socks, wonderful music, and enough snacks to possibly get us through The Whites. They also wrote notes that I really needed to read, notes reminding me to push on even as times get tough. Also just remembering that people love and support us, how quickly I forget this on the trail.

Though the package made my day I still was not convinced to try the White Mountains. Andrew and I discussed him doing The White Mountains without me, while I tried to do work for stay in a town and wait for him to finish. I also REALLY wanted more than one day off. We hiked 7 miles to get into Gorham, and were planning on only taking one "zero" which in no way felt like enough. In this world if you only take one zero, you spend your day running errands for resupply, catching up on emails, figuring out gear and planning the next days of hiking ahead. A "real zero" should entail naps, movies, soaking your feet and general R and R. Anyway our first night in town we went out to dinner with two other southbounders, and spent hours talking about the trail, my reasons for not desiring to conquer The Whites at the moment, and the constant compromises that come with hiking as a couple with drastically different skill levels. The two hikers, Melodee, a darling woman in her sixties we met our first day and Sharkey, a guy we met in Monson who had been hiking North with his girlfriend, and is now yo-yoing (which means he completed the trail going north and has now turned around and is going to hike the trail southbound) were great sounding boards. We all laughed, joked and shared stories about the ups and downs, literally, of trail life. We also talked at length about finding the right balance of Andrew and I both getting our needs met. How my 'edge,' physically and mentally out here is so much shorter than Andrew's and how that is neither bad or good, but it can be hard to figure out a way for everyone to feel good. Sharkie very much related to our dilemmas and understood why I may not want to do The Whites right now. He was surprised that after 6 weeks of doing this, we had only taken two real zeros, and reminded me that he had done the whole trail several times and Maine and New Hampshire really are the hardest states. He suggested we take a few zeros, not just one and I agreed though financially we knew we could not afford such a luxury. So he offered to pay for one night for us to stay at the hostel, just so I would get an extra day of rest. In. fucking. credible. That generosity was enough to push me over the edge and I've decided to try The Whites. I'm still not sure I'll finish them, but I've had too many hikers encourage me to try them, and there are many options if I end up needing to get off the trail early.

The hiker community is absolutely one of the main reasons I'm still on the trail. One real blessing of this trail is the constant, daily interaction with strangers we experience and how most hikers really want to help when they can. How often do you interact with strangers on a daily basis, much less bond over shared experience? Out here no matter who you are and where you are coming from, we are all hiking the same mountains. If not for the support and repeated generosity of the people we have met, I would not still be on this trail. In my regular life, I get constantly annoyed and disheartened by people, I question whether most people are just selfish pricks. But here on the trail I believe people are good, kind, and capable of miraculous things. That, I would say, is a wonderful gift this trail has given me.

So tomorrow we head out for The Whites, though rain is predicted from Tuesday to Thursday. I am not sure I will finish them, but goshdarnit I will at least start them.
Also we've been informed that Internet in New Hampshire on the trail is hard to find and expensive when you do. So we will do our best to post pics and updates, though it may take us a while to get through the next 100 miles and may not post until we are done. But just like Arnold, WE'LL BE BACK.

Thanks again for all the support. The struggles of life are not easy, which is exactly why we learn so much from them. Trying to keep that in my heart in the miles ahead.