The last few days have been really tough. We are getting into the “notchy” area of the trail which means lots of ups and downs. Some days I barely crawl into the shelter at night having had my butt kicked earlier that day by first going up a big mountain, and then the more painful down. My knees are getting stronger though and they hurt a lot less now on the down hills and I can move a lot faster.
The other day I hiked 7 miles down hill to a road and was planning to hitch into a small town called Andover. But over the course of half an hour only about 6 cars drove past me, a few stopped to chat but none gave me a ride. Finally a white car turned the corner and stopped right away and a man got out. I was excited but then when I saw who got out I was really shocked, it was a Sheriff! He gave me a ride into town, but not before he got my name and did a quick background check. I was pretty impressed with myself getting a ride with a Sheriff and all. There were other hikers in town hanging out outside the store when I pulled up in the coolest ride ever. That was my first time in a cop car, and luckily I was in the front seat.
I did my shopping and met a fellow Canadian in the store. We are rare out here, I haven’t met many other Canadians and most are from Quebec. So Goose and I decided to hitch back to the trail together after I finished my greasy clam strips, cod fish nuggets and waffle fries. We walked to the road and hadn’t stuck out our thumbs for more than a minute and a car stopped, we were happy! As the round, hairy faced women opened the door to the trunk, I looked in a saw hay, the first clue this was gonna be a weird ride. Then as she opened the side doors for us her little dog jumped out and she went after it. Then her big husky type dog, Nya, jumped out, this is when the problems started… “Nya doesn’t listen. She doesn’t come when she’s called”. We drove around town, chased Nya, tried to bribe her with cheese that some guy gave us, and honked the horn for over 45 minutes trying to get her back. Goose and I were feelin’ pretty uneasy by this time and wanted out. Finally, while the lady was out running after her dog, swearing and yelling (it wasn’t pretty), me and Goose exchanged some awkward glances and decided to get the heck out of there! We grabbed the keys from the ignition and ran for the trunk to unlock it and get our bags! Just as we got them she came around the corner and saw us… awkward!
We got outta there, but it took us another 30 minutes to get a ride, and hairy dog lady was long gone by then. At first we weren’t sure if we made the right choice, but then we thought about it for 5 more seconds and decided we didn’t like being in a stinky car or chasing dogs, or weird swearing ladies. All I wanted was a ride…
Once at the trail Goose and I had a heart to heart about why we were on the trail. Then I hiked another 5 miles past the shelter and slept in a notch between 2 mountain peaks with no one else around. I had a great view from the top of where I had come in the past few days. It was a long day full of excitement and I slept my best sleep yet in my little yellow tent.