Maine Hostel Stays per day

The next day, we celebrated a 14-mile hike. This was our furthest day since arriving in New Hampshire. It might have been longer, but Turtle had stayed at a hostel with Slaw and Mash. We were taking our time to give him a chance to catch up.

HellYeah and Jellybean joined us for breakfast that morning. Then we climbed Baldplate and found ourselves at the top again.

Guardian and Jellybean played music for the group. Not only was the music Not Safe for Work, it could also have been Not Safe for Listening.

The music wasn’t the worst thing we heard at Baldplate. Jellybean informed us that it was the last day of summer. Autumn was upon us. The only thing I could think about was how cold it was going to be.

The turtle returns

Turtle’s name was a bit misleading. When he first joined our group, I thought maybe he’d have someone he could keep up with. This was not the case. He probably would have been the fastest among us if he hadn’t recorded for his YouTube channel. Turtle on the path.

We walked for a while after Baldplate and stopped for lunch.

“You all have to be the laziest group of hikers I’ve ever met!” Turtle announced as he joined us for lunch. He regaled us with stories of his trip to Bethel and his night at the Om Dome.

We left and walked to our camp. Fresh, Turtle, Guardian and I arrived after dark. Jellybean and HellYeah were already there and sitting around a campfire when we arrived. We met up with them and discussed our plans for the next day.

The Dome of Om

The Plan

We originally planned to hike for a full day, but plans changed.

Fresh was having trouble with sores on his feet and wanted to stop and let them heal. Turtle had told us how wonderful his stay at the Om Dome was. Jellybean and HellYeah had told us they planned to stay there too.

Ranger was always in a hurry because he wanted to finish the Camino before his visa expired. When we wanted to stop, she would provide us with the counter and convince us to keep moving. No one was here to discourage us from going to the hostel. Then, 30 seconds after it was suggested, it was set in stone.

The wait

We reached the road junction around 1pm or 2pm and waited until the bus passed at 4:30pm. Turtle lay down on his mat and I set up my hammock for a nap. Fresh and Guardian sat down and talked about life and relationships.

It was nice to take a break and just hang out. I didn’t realize it until the end, but the trail is surprisingly busy. You hike, plan, refill water, set up and break down camp, prepare meals, and on days off, resupply, blog, make phone calls, and sometimes work to stay.

The trip arrived and they took us to the Om Dome!

Naked and scared

The name of Ryan Holt’s trail is Yukon. He is the owner of the Om Dome and has been a contestant on Naked and scared.

Yukon is a very friendly and down to earth person. He designed his lodge and house for hikers and gave us free rein while we were with him. He made us buffet breakfast and dinner and had an amazing setup.

There was a bunkhouse, but it was full, so Fresh and I stayed in the private loft. Turtle decided to stay in one of the yurts outside.

We showered in the outdoor showers on the back deck. There was not enough hot water for everyone staying there. This, combined with the cool fall weather and the mint body wash, created a quick, cold shower.

Tom Sawyer got to work

We ended up staying for a zero the next day. We couldn’t convince Guardian to stay because he was nervous that we were running out of time.

Most of the people who stayed decided to opt for the work-per-stay option. Fresh opted out and felt like he was waiting for his feet to heal. I also planned to relax and not work. Fresh and I were drinking coffee and checking out the place while a gentleman named Pops showed everyone their duties for the day.

Pops asked if Fresh and I were planning to work. I told you we planned to apply for management positions after Trail. So, to get some practice, we would watch everyone else work over coffee and critique their efforts. He didn’t seem very amused by this. Later, I found out that he and the others actually thought that I planned to work to stay doing this.

I watched as he got a group to start chopping firewood. As I watched, I realized they needed another person to move and stack the wood after it was cut. They didn’t have another person and within minutes I had changed clothes and was loading a wheelbarrow with wood and stacking the pile. As a kid, I did this with my dad and found those few hours of work to be rewarding.

Yukon was impressed with what we had accomplished and took us into town. He took us to Wal-Mart (this was the first and last one we stopped at since Vermont). He also took us out and bought us all lunch.

Planning

Guardian had left that morning because he was nervous that we would run out of time. We felt the same. That night, Fresh and I took some time to plan the rest of our trip.

We felt much better after our planning session. We scheduled very doable days and found that if we stuck to the plan, we would finish on October 4th. This news was a relief, but it was also sad. Knowing the journey willpower The end is different from knowing. when will end.

Leaving the dome

We left the Om Dome after our zero and returned to Trail.

I remember how spectacular the trees and leaves looked on this path. It’s as if autumn had heard that summer was over and arrived ready to work.

I have seen the leaves change color in Missouri countless times. Those times were nothing compared to what Maine showed us that morning. There were yellows, oranges, reds, and evergreens that balanced them all. The soft morning sun shone through these different colored leaves as they fell to the path.

We returned to Trail and hiked Old Blue and Beavis Mountain.

That afternoon we arrived at a valley crossed by a river and set up camp. The sun shining through the leaves left the entire area bathed in a golden-orange light, almost seeming like a dream. It’s what I would imagine if I heard the phrase «autumn paradise.» I had a random thought about wishing there was a way to capture this moment and visit from time to time. Our group, in this golden valley, simply lives and exists. Unfortunately, the images could not capture the beauty of this moment.

The journey continues

It is also sad that no matter how much we want it, time passes, and so do we.

The next day was one of the easiest we’ve had in a long time. We hiked a 15 mile day to Raingley where we resupplied before returning to the trail. It was supposed to be freezing that night, but fortunately it wasn’t.

We slept in the next day and headed to the Saddlebacks.

Jellybean and HellYeah were with us for much of Maine. When we stumbled, we got distracted, so we slowly made our way over the Saddlebacks. We met to get water and chatted. Then we all stopped at an outhouse, then at a pond for lunch and canoeing, then at the top of a mountain where a ridge runner pointed out Katahdin in the distance. This was the first time we saw Katahdin.

That night we planned to camp in a shelter. Goodnews had already set up camp and informed us that the water had dried up. It was getting dark and we quickly made the decision to walk 3 more miles to the river. We got there after dark and camped on an old logging road.

Headed to HOME

The next day, we finished the Saddlebacks and Sugarloaf. We set up camp just before the Crockers.

We had come across GoodNews at some point and she had told us about the Hostel of Maine, or HOME. My route name was DadJoke, so of course I appreciated it.

Once again, without Ranger providing a counterargument, our group decided that we would stay here seconds after finding out about it. To be fair, we started out thinking we were on our way to finishing, and when we finished, we’d regret not having had more fun. Fresh’s feet were having trouble again and seemed to have a bad rash or blisters, so we justified the stop and planned a zero later.

We walked through the rain and cold and headed to the crossroads, where they took us HOME.

HOME

GoodNews was here and JellyBean stayed one night. We were sad that HellYeah didn’t join us. Another hiker we had run into a couple of times, named SleeperAgent, was also here with us.

Another individual named Chad, a windmill engineer, was staying at the lodge. He told us that when he arrived he was talking to a hiker in his 50s or 60s. Chad asked the man’s name, and the man looked at him and responded with the utmost seriousness and replied, «Squirrels.» Chad said he knew we were all crazy after that.

This was possibly my most relaxing stay. It was spacious, warm and comforting, and the sofas and furniture were comfortable. I think the lack of television also helped with this.

One thing was discouraging. It was the first time in a long time that we started thinking about going back to work after the Trail. I even logged onto Indeed to see what was available. INDEED!

However, the more I thought about it, the more encouraged I became. The Camino had changed me and I was excited to get home and see who I had become.