August 23 - Franconia Notch, Loon Mountain Hostel (Day 157 – milepoint 1781.0)

Tough terrain this morning forced me to periodically strap my poles to my pack and scramble on all fours for a couple of hours.

Unfortunately, heavy fog at higher elevations still looms, so no views, but I dropped down to Lonesome Lake and was rewarded with the beauty of the lake and surrounding area. At this point, I realized I wasn’t going to make it to the post office in North Woodstock
before it closed at noon (today is Saturday). I would have to wait until Monday, which is a bit of a bummer. I’d hoped to avoid spending money if I could help it. I was also not looking forward to what I had heard was a very difficult hitch into town. Much of the traffic along the road is made up of tourists, who are typically far less apt to pick up hitchhikers than locals.

But as I emerged from the woods and up to the road at Franconia Notch, a bus driving by honked at me and pulled over. The driver, Sam, invited me in and informed me he was heading back to Loon Mountain Ski Resort, where he works, and that I could stay at the hostel there if I would like. I thought that sounded great.

Sam also informed me of a concert at the resort tonight and that I could work at the show in exchange for my stay at the hostel. That also sounded like a good deal to me. I asked him, “Who’s playing the concert?”

“Big Head Todd and Ziggy Marley.” he proclaimed.

That sounded good to me.

Sam dropped me at the hostel where I was provided a room with shower and laundry access. I was eventually joined by Lej, Silence, and Easy Walker and we all walked over to the base of the ski resort at around 4:00 to report for “concert-duty.” Our hostel and concert host was Steve Shaberman, who put us to work in the concession area – pizza, burgers, hot dogs, chips, fries, ice cream, soda, etc. – and said we could eat “as much as we would like.”

We put Silence on pizza duty. Lej and Easy Walker were given security t-shirts and stood near a fence to keep people from sneaking in without tickets. They had a great view of the stage and, of course, we made sure they were well-fed and thirst-free all evening.

Steve made me sort of the “hiker-crew-leader,” which was something like a glorified gopher wandering around looking busy but really not doing much. Met Ziggy and Steven Marley before the show (I’m sure I made a powerful impression) and eventually ended up walking around the concert with boxes of ice cream bars. I even sold a few.

Big Head Todd and the Monsters were excellent as usual, and Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers were far better than I expected. PakaBear, Chewy, Cosmo, and LandShark showed up during the show in disbelief about our luck. We made sure they didn’t leave hungry. Outstanding show, to say the least, and Steve took great care of us all.

Now back at the hostel, a little after midnight, happy and comfy. Wondering what to do tomorrow.

Aquaholic