After surviving the Presidentials, the Gang of Four decided we needed a rest day, and that Gorham, New Hampshire, was the place to take it. So today we had only one 850′ climb up Mt. Moriah, after which the rest of a very short day would be downhill to US 2. Moriah gave us numerous nice vistas, and with no time pressures and cool hiking weather, we took full advantage of several “ooh – ahh” moments. There was one section just below the summit that on paper looked just as gnarly as yesterday’s drop off on North Carter Mountain. However, today every time we took a step downward, another obvious one appeared before us, something that hadn’t happened the afternoon before.

A day before while coming through the same stretch, our friends the Charons described the last two miles to US 2 as “a walk in the park.” Today we joked the previous six miles were also a walk in the park – if that park were Grand Teton National! In any case, the AT did begin to level out as we made our first crossing of the Rattle River. And after a short food break at the Rattle River Shelter, we fairly flew down the trail, covering the last 1.9 miles in under 40 minutes. At the US 2 parking area, we met Mango and Tailbone in their two support vehicles, just putting Riff Ralph back on the trail. We chewed the fat with them for a few minutes (with them confirming what we’d feared about no road crossings on the AT for the next 25+ miles – quite a blow to potential slack-packing), after which in spite of lots of gear and three dogs, they agreed to squeeze us in for the four mile ride into Gorham, before they headed off to their next campground in the opposite direction. The clouds had been building all morning and the rain really let loose just as we got out of the cars at McDonalds. We felt extremely fortunate with our timing.

We chowed down on a No Guilt hiker lunch (we think it was #24 on the board, supersized) while waiting for Kleenex’s sister Alison (once again using her days off to support the team) to arrive.

This being the start of the Labor Day weekend, securing lodging in Gorham had been a challenge, but we got the last two rooms at the Moose Brook Lodge on the north edge on town.

By the time everyone showered, the sun had come back out. Alison dropped N off at the Laundry Basket back in the center of town, where he had agreed to tackle all the combined dirty clothes. He had hoped to work on today’s journal entry while he waited, but most of his time was spent enjoying (?) the good, cheap entertainment of another (rather strange) customer slamming the equipment and cursing when he failed to follow the directions on the commercial washer, which ate his $3.50! After seeing that incident, N read all of the directions very carefully and indeed washed up a storm, as by the time he finished, it was raining heavily with thunder and lightning in downtown Gorham.

When Alison returned with the Gang, we ate across the street at Mr. Pizza, which had great food and a much wider selection than their name might imply. A very good meal all around. Kleenex and Alison are staying at a campground tonight, while Castaway and the Troverts hold down the fort at the motel. Actually, we’re all so tired, the fort will have to hold down itself as we are observing an early Hiker Midnight. 16 miles to Maine and less than 300 to Katahdin…