Day 102: The Sterling Inn

Start: Stealth Site near Harrison’s (AT mi 2038.2). Stop: The Sterling Inn (AT mi 2041.9). Today’s miles: 3.7 miles. Total AT mileage: 1017.2 miles

I set my alarm for 6, turned it off when it vibrated, reset it for 6:15.. and then got ready in a rush. I was packed completely, shoes on, and dropping my pack behind a tree at 6:43am. I delightfully made my way across Tim’s bridges to get to his hunting camp for breakfast. It felt like Christmas morning for some reason, I was excited for this pancake breakfast!

There were 7 of us there in his dining room. We sipped coffee and watched the hummingbirds. At exactly 7am, Tim started bringing out our plates. We each had 12 patriotic pancakes (they were thin, but mighty lol), which had raspberries, blueberries, and apples in them! WOW. They were topped with powdered sugar. And while I’m normally a dipper only, I poured that fresh maple syrup right on top! Tim also brought out little plates of scrambled eggs and sausage links. I don’t know why I keep accepting the sausage links, I don’t like them.. but I keep trying to. Haha

We all devoured our food. All but one completely cleaned their plates.. minus my 2 sausage links I gave to FireWalker. It’s like each town’s breakfast keeps getting better and better. And with it being my favorite meal in normal life and grossly overlooked on hiking days, I’m really loving these great mornings of even better breakfasts.

We all paid and thanked Tim for an incredible spread of food and then started making our way to the trail. I was the only one that left their pack at the junction, so everyone else was ahead by the time I got my pack on.. which was perfect. The canoe river crossing was roughly 3 miles ahead, and the guy wouldn’t be there until 9.. it was only 8 now, and I knew there would be a line. Of all the people that ate breakfast at Tim’s place, there was more that didn’t, all of which were probably already ahead of us.

The trail was beautiful.. mossy rocks and pine needle forest floor. Some mild ups and downs over roots and the like, but nothing to break a real sweat going at my leisurely pace. Off to the right for just about the entire 3 miles (if not actually all of it) was the creek that passed in from of Tim’s house. I saw waterfalls and little cascades the entire way. It was beautiful.

When I got to the river crossing, there was at least 14 people ahead of me.. apparently Mr. Canoe man was late getting there and people were annoyed because now at a whole 9:28am, he had only shuttled across once. Oh well. It was a gorgeous, sunny morning. I took my pack off and sat in line with everyone else. The man could take 2 people at a time across to the other side. The one up front had to help him paddle the current to get across.

After 15-25 minutes of hanging out and chatting with folks, one of them told me I should go across with FireWalker since he was next and everyone else was in a pair. Haha-for once being solo helped me out! I got to skip 4 pairs of hikers! And the icing on the cake: FireWalker wanted to be upfront to paddle! Lol I just got to sit in the middle and enjoy the ride 🙂 I zipped my phone up though, because that canoe was wobbly and I didn’t trust it (and these men) to not roll us into the river. Ha

On the other side, I met the man’s golden retriever and probably crouched and petted it longer than a normal human. Goodness I love dogs. I miss Molly and Max. I’m ready to lay on the floor and just get pummeled with kisses and snuggles. Soon enough, pups. Soon enough.
I decided since I had service that I would call the Sterling Inn for a pick up at the trailhead. I just needed to resupply, BUT I told myself *if* they had a private room under $100, I’d stay. Because why not? Plus I really needed to charge my battery bank. I didn’t want mom flying to see me and my phone be dead if she was having any trouble. Lol

When I called, I’ll be: he had one king bed left.. “it’s expensive though..” I just knew he was going to say something outrageous.. “$80 a night.” SOLD! He came and got me and another couple. When the van door opened, non other than Lilo and Sweeps were inside!! We had a mini reunion, and I learned that Lilo tweaked something in her back and they were flying home today with plans to come back on trail to finish just after Labor Day. I felt so awful for her and their situation, but I was happy to see familiar faces.

I checked in to my gorgeous room, went to shower and packed up my dirty clothes to be washed.. and on my way downstairs to wait for the washer, I ran into TIEDYE!! I all but tackled the man I was so happy to see him! I started my laundry and all of us and some other folks sat on the porch talking for a while.

Close to 2pm, TieDye and I got a shuttle to a restaurant in town. It was like a huge resort type place, restaurant, lake, pool, jacuzzi, game room.. the works. We had a couple beers and I had an excellent BBQ pulled pork sandwich, with homemade blueberry BBQ sauce. Sounds strange, but it was delicious! We stayed a couple hours, enjoying the patio and the sun, talking and catching each other up on our lives since we last saw one another.

When we could sit there no longer, we got a ride back to the hotel. I was slap stuffed! I sat on the porch awhile and then laid out in my big bed. I watched some Hulu shows and finally fell asleep. With such a huge late lunch, I didn’t need dinner!

It was such an amazing day, and I’d have missed it if I had hiked on. God knows what our souls need, the rejuvenation, the company of others we’ve missed. I’m so very grateful I stayed and got reconnected to TieDye. We plan to hike into Monson together. His wife comes the day after my mom! I think it’s perfect. And I’m so very happy.