Made it to Gorham and Beyond

The guys have made it through another week. Over the past seven days they have hiked through the White Mountains and are now heading toward another set of challenging terrain. Ben seems to be doing well. Dale appears to have been a little more acrobatic. Dale said that wood has been places over some of the more swampy parts of the trail. About mid week he walked across one of those wooden planks. The wood was so slick he thought he was on ice. From what he described he did some gymnastic moves to save himself. Thank goodness the only casualty was a trekking pole.

During one of the midweek updates Dale mentioned that his shoes were falling apart. Yup, that’s right . . . those new shoes are falling apart. Thank goodness REI was able to ship a new pair of shoes to Gorham. (OK, maybe that’s an overstatement. They shipped the shoes because we purchased them, not out of the goodness of their heart. Although, REI really does have good customer service!)

Apparently Dale was struggling a bit with his energy level last Saturday. That explains why they cut the day short. Not to worry. The next few days they pushed and made it to Gorham. Julie was able to visit them. She also served as their chauffer taking them to get the pole fixed and assorted other things. From what Dale said, Julie was less than impressed with the Motor Inn they were staying in. It had to be pretty bad for Julie to say something!

Even though the Motor Inn was not even close to four star hotel, they were grateful to be there. They managed to relax and take their first scheduled zero day. It was a good chance for them to prepare for several more weeks on the trail.

Today they called at 7:30 a.m. just before they got on the trail. They were in good spirits. I was too until they shared this little tidbit of information. If I want to walk up Katadin with them to see them finish I will have two choices. Choice #1 – be at the park when it opens at 5:00 a.m. or Choice #2 bring a tent and sleep in the campground. OK . . . Dale’s sister Ann is probably thinking what a sissy I am about now, but really it’s not about the tent camping. It’s about the smell. They will have nine (9) days of funk on them when I arrive. Even the wildlife steer clear of them when they smell that bad!!!! Yuck!

Day 22
Miles Completed: 245.70