Day 36, Work For Stay

August 18

360.1 down, 1825.8 to go

Leaving Ethan Pond, we had the easiest five miles of trail! We stopped at Zealand Falls Hut. As we got there, a man approached NotYet and told him he was his 600th hiker! "What?" His 600th ice cream sandwich! I was hoping that his 600th wasn't his last. Luckily he was handing out a 601st! His goal was to hand out as many sandwiches as AT miles, over 2,000. We volunteered to help him cover more miles. He didn't fall for it. Ha. He packs his cooler with dry ice so the sandwiches stay cool.

We caught back up to Mudslide, who ended up going a few miles further than Ethan Pond last night. Mudslide is 29, recently quit his job and is enjoying being on the trail. He has a glorious beard. I know I've seen NotYet admiring it, secretly... Mudslide has lost 88 pounds since starting the trail! He is hoping to lose 100 total and keep it off after. We told him what we've learned, that after the trail, you can allow yourself one last hiker meal, but no more eating like you're burning 6,000 calories anymore! We talked to him about running.

We enjoyed chatting with Mudslide more on our way to Galehead Hut, where we weren't planning on staying, but did anyway because they had work for stay available at 5:30, when 4:30 is usually the prime time to show up and ask. They usually take two workers, since they are a smaller hut, but accepted the three of us. While we waited for dinner leftovers, Mudslide introduced us to the song game, where you pick a topic and have to sing at least eight words that fit within the topic. The topic was... guess... that's right, food. We started running out of songs after a while, when we decided to include songs about alcohol. That's when a lot of country music came into play. The game entertained until leftovers were ready.

NotYet's work for stay was to talk to the people staying at the huts about thru hiking, but Mudslide really wanted to share his stories, so he talked instead. After a delicious, hearty, and warm dinner, Mudslide talked and NotYet and I did our own dishes and scraped ice from the fridge. Too easy! We felt like we should've been doing more! 

It feels good to be doing a good amount of miles (11-15) through The Whites, which are right up there with Maine for hardest trail sections. We feel like we've finally for our hiker legs and are ready to pick up the pace in Vermont. We are really, really excited for some easy terrain!