Lakeshore House Lodge

The stay at the Lodge continues to be a peaceful one. I've sorted through my resupply package and will repack before I head back out in the morning. Here's the view out the back of the Lodge.

I've been talking to as many NOBO hikers as I can to see what they have to say about conditions in the mountains of Western Maine and the White Mountains in New Hampshire. These are reportedly the toughest sections of the entire Trail, so it's critical that my plan for them is flawless.

The kindness of friends and friends of friends is just overwhelming me tonight. This evening I went down to the Lodge Pub for dinner, only to find that a good friend of mine was right at that moment on the phone with the hostess arranging to pay for my food. We had been talking about lobster rolls on Facebook, which inspired his generosity. Christopher Roche, thank you for the "wicked awesome lobster roll"!

At the same time, my wife received a new pair of hiking shoes from another generous soul. My second pair bit the dust on Katahdin and in the 100-mile Wilderness. She's waiting to mail them to me after I finalize my plan for the Whites. Thomas Anderson, I can't thank you enough! These are the gestures that keep me motivated and forging ahead on this journey.

I spent some time sorting through some additional videos and photographs that I took in the 100-mile Wilderness. The following shot shows how we slept one night. It was a beautiful, clear night, so I set up the tarp to block the wind, and we slept under hundreds of stars. The photo was taken the next morning, when Forest was hanging out waiting for his food to rehydrate so he could eat.

One of the videos gave another illustration of how helpful Forest is, even in these unfamiliar mountains. We've had several occasions where I have given him a command to turn left or right, and he has totally ignored me. After about 10 minutes of frustration and wondering why he's being so stubborn when he typically immediately follows my command, I think to pull out my map and take a second look. Every single time this has happened, the command that I had given turned out to be a path that would take us off Trail, and the way Forest was facing was the correct way to stay on the Trail. It's just uncanny how smart he is.

Time to turn back in to the bunkroom for the night. Thanks for staying with us, everyone!