Of the 14 states the Appalachian Trail passes through, Maine is the hardest. Most through-hikers either know this beforehand or find it out once they are here.

There are a number of reasons why it’s so hard. It’s the second longest at 278.5 miles or so, after Virginia, with around 565 miles. It’s also the roughest underfoot with steep climbs, root-bound trail, miles of wet bog, mud and big mountain ranges. The numerous streams have to be forded, and then there are the flies, mosquitoes, midges and no-see-ums.

There’s another reason it’s hard. It’s the most remote state, making re-supply a logistical problem, because it’s a long way between the five main towns near the trail. So, the towns from south to north, Andover, Rangeley, Stratton, Caratunk and Monson become filled with hikers during the season. They come into those towns to re-supply with mail drops or by buying from local stores. They usually stay in the town overnight in local accommodations, then hike out the next day.

Of all the towns, Monson is probably the most significant from either direction. It sits at the end of the “hundred mile wilderness”, a hundred miles of trail between Monson at the southern end and Abol Bridge on the Golden Road at the north end. In the wilderness there are no towns and no easy way out, without involving a long hitch or walk. If you’re a hiker southbound from the store at Abol Bridge, you might arrive in Monson with very little food left in your pack and none in your stomach. If you’re hiking northbound, and you don’t pick up what you need in Monson, you won’t be taking it north to Katahdin.

But, it takes more than a set of buildings to make a hiker-friendly town. It takes the people who live there to be a place where hikers feel welcome. In Monson recently I had a chance to talk with a few of the local residents to find out about what the annual hiking season means to them.

Up on Main Street, Rebekah Santagata, owner of The Lakeshore House, has hiker lodging in her inn. She also operates a lakefront pub and restaurant in the inn that’s popular with hikers and locals. Her rates are $25 a night for shared bunk space, which includes use of the inn’s canoes and kayaks on Lake Hebron, just outside the back of the pub.

She has seen quite a few hikers in the three years she has been open year-round and says they have simple needs.

“I’ll give you an example,” she said. “If I tell a hiker that I need to clean their room before they take it, whether it’s changing sheets or emptying waist baskets, their responses vary. It goes from ‘OK, take your time,’ to ‘Do you want any help?’, or, ‘That’s all right, I’ll sleep in my sleeping bag.'”

She sometimes lets them barter their services in trade for a place to sleep.

“They all want to help, doing stuff that I just don’t have time to do,” she said.

She knows hikers need food and offers them an all-you-can-eat taco night on Thursday night and fish fry on Friday nights.

Dawn MacPherson-Allen and her business partner Sue Stevens own Shaw’s Boarding House on Pleasant Street. As owners for the last three years they’ve seen hundreds, if not thousands, of hikers. Dawn claims hikers need three things: “hot water, cold beer and Ben and Jerry’s ice cream.”

Shaw’s does not provide beer but Dawn knows Monson and gives directions to everything else the hiker needs. The town is small and it’s a short walk to the post office and the stores on Main Street.

But, Shaw’s provides more than directions or a hot shower. You can set up your tent on the lawn for $12 a night or stay in the shared bunkhouse for $21.50. Shaw’s also serves an all-you-can-eat breakfast for $6.50. In addition, Dawn related a story where she gave a young couple of southbound through-hikers a water filter, which was left for her to give away by another hiker.

“All I did was, I gave it to someone who needed it,” she said.

There’s also a story on an Internet trail journal about a young woman hiker. She stayed at Shaw’s and had her ripped shorts sewn by Sue Stevens. She and MacPherson-Allen must love serving hikers, they are only open during hiking season, from May 15 to Oct. 15.

“Hikers are our only business,” Dawn said.

You get the feeling after talking with the townspeople in Monson that they really care for the hiking community and see it as their community, too. Tim and Julie Anderson open up their general store to musicians on Friday night, which usually sees crowds of locals and hikers gathered together for music making and listening.

“They were down the aisles last night,” Anderson said when I was there.

Judging from the number of hikers in town the day I was there, they see Monson as their community, as well. They browse the shops from one end of town to another. You can see them from the barbecue place up Main Street, to the convenience store at the other end of town ordering pizza. They talk about taking a “zero day” in Monson almost as soon as they arrive.

A “zero day” is through-hiker slang for how many miles they plan to hike on the trail that day. There’s no higher tribute for a town along the trail than for a through-hiker to say that he wants to travel no farther that day than right where he is, in a hiker-friendly town like Monson.

sourball@gwi.net