[at-l] Hiker in Gorham

[Art Cloutman]

I made another trip to the trail heads in NH to do more field editing 
for the Companion on Thursday.  I drove around the road closure signs 
on route 302 to see if any hikers were attempting to get into town to 
resupply or pick up mail drops.  I stopped at several hostels.  Mary 
Ann at Hiker's Paradise was very excited about how well this season 
has gone for her.  She feels she had more hikers stop in and she 
claims they were nicer this year.  On the other hand, the owners of 
White Birches Hostel were very disappointed with the turn out this 
year.  Apparently, the White Mountain Lodge and Hostel just 1/10th 
mile from Rattle River trail head opened this June with a $20 per 
person fee including breakfast, dinner, laundry, shower and shuttle. 
I stopped by to talk.  The owners were exhausted from all of the 
folks that took advantage of their very low rates.  They can't afford 
to run their program for that rate next year and they don't have the 
energy to provide dinner to 20 hikers every day.  So they are going 
to raise their rates and stop serving dinner.  They will also charge 
for shuttle service.

I stopped by McDonalds for a cup of coffee and met Socks and Hoop. 
They got off the trail in Pinkham Notch and were headed up to rt 2 by 
passing the section from Wildcat to the Rattle River.  They must 
finish their hikes before September 30 because of commitments.  I 
Shuttled them back to the trail.  While I stopped at White Birches 
Miss Janet showed up.  I had no idea she was still in the area.  She 
was bringing a bunch of hikers into Gorham for dinner so I joined 
them.  I met Hopeful for the second or third time. He was hiking with 
Charity, Guinness, Nate Dog and Sweet Tea heading for Katahdin. 
There were three other hikers whose names I did not get.  There are a 
lot of hikers in Gorham still heading north.  I counted 19 hikers but 
there are many in the motels and still coming into town that I could 
not know about.

It was another great day up north.  I must go back at least one more 
time to complete my filed editing.
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Life is Good!!!
Art Cloutman