It rained heavy all night. I still woke up a little after 7 for the obvious old man reason. I strolled over to the shelter to see who was still around. It turns out that Baba Ganoush, Concrete Cowboy, Twinkie, and Thor were the only ones in the shelter last night. We could have squeezed in and woke them up since we know and get along with all of them. Twinkie and Thor were already gone. I told Baba Ganoush and Concrete Cowboy about the creek crossing from last night. They decided to just take another zero in the shelter to allow the water levels to drop.
I headed back to the tent and fell asleep until 11:30. We started moving all of our stuff into the shelter so we could take down the tent and remain relatively dry while doing so. While we were packing everything up and eating lunch, the four overnighters we met yesterday came in for lunch. Dan, the kind of leader of the group, told us that the stream they had camped by last night had dropped significantly even with the rain.
We decided to chance the crossing. After all, two people had already headed north and they hadn’t come back so it must be relatively safe. The stream much lower but still flowing fast when we got there. The deciding point for us was watching two sobo day-hikers cross in front of us without a problem. It was still above our knees but we didn’t have any problems. When we get to Maine, we will have to be crossing deep streams regularly since they don’t believe in bridges. The excuse for “no bridges” is to maintain natural wilderness areas, but are shelters natural? Is it natural to have a wide trail running through the woods? I think the “no bridges” policy has more to do with cost and maintenance.
We only had a couple more ups and one down over the next mile and a half to Bears Den Hostel. This hostel is owned by the ATC and managed by the PATC. It was a house built about 80 years ago by an ob/gyn and his wife. They had it built in the style of a medieval castle. With the big push to relocate the trail off of roads and into the woods, the ATC purchased the land for the rerouted trail. The house had fallen into disrepair from sitting empty.
The hostel doesn’t open until 5. We arrived at 4. There is a lower rear entrance for thru hikers to go in early to take showers and chill until the hostel opens. There are 10 bunks downstairs but they were all taken. We took showers and watched the movie “Airplane” with a bunch of annoying weedlings that didn’t understand the concept of a spoof.
The hostel opens promptly at 5. We went upstairs and got 2 hiker specials. For $30, each person gets a bunk, a shower, laundry, a pizza, a pint of ice cream, a soda, and breakfast in the morning. This is by far the best deal we have come across. There are three more bunk rooms outside of the 10 bunks in the basement and each has its own bathroom. A total of 36 people can comfortably stay in the hostel. The house was completely full because of all the rain.
The host, Glen looks just like Jackson Brown. He runs his butt off all day, every day. He’s been here since 2013 and plans to quit in 2020. This would be a perfect job for Bunny and me if we were done hiking by when he quits, but we won’t be done that soon.
We saw around, reading and listening to Champ play the guitar. We met Champ way back at Priest Shelter. He’s been a studio musician and performer for 50 years and has never taken a vacation because he loves what he does. This year, he decided it was time to take enough time off to hike the AT. When he gets done, he will be heading to Paris to perform with an accordion player he met last year.
All in all, we had a great night at the hostel. Good food, great music, meeting lots of new people, and, most importantly, inside dry and warm out of the rain. Life is good.
EFG