Since capturing their audience, Paul and Ilene Trainor have given thousands of Appalachian Trail hikers some much-needed TLC.
ANDOVER – Behind many successful businesses there’s a story – but a kidnapping?
That’s how Paul and Ilene Trainor, owners of Pine Ellis Lodging B&B, say they jump-started their business eight miles from the Appalachian Trail.
“When we moved up here and opened our bed and breakfast in the fall of 1989, we didn’t know how the trail worked,” Ilene Trainor said. “We had this image in our heads where hikers strolled into town and stopped a person and said, ‘Gee, do you know where there’s a place to stay?’ We were so nave.”
No hikers arrived at their 20 Pine St. business and home that autumn.
“When we opened the following summer, we put signs up in town and waited and waited for all the hikers to come in, and no hikers showed up and we didn’t know why,” Ilene said.
That’s when husband Paul got an idea.
He drove their van to Melissa’s Market, spotted two long-distance hikers – “thru-hikers” Larry Lang and Rick Huard – and asked them to get in the van.
“Paul offered them free lodging, breakfast and a ride back to the trail, and if they liked it or didn’t like it, he asked them to tell hikers we’re here,” Ilene said.
“It was by far the most pleasant kidnapping from a general store I’ve ever been involved in,” Huard later wrote in the Trainors’ journal for backpacking guests.
From Huard and Lang, the Trainors learned that thru-hikers – people who backpack the entire trail from Georgia to Maine or vice versa – leave messages in logbooks left in shelters along the trail. The messages often suggest where to stay and eat in nearby towns.
They also learned about “The Philosopher’s Guide to the A.T.,” a helpful travel guide for thru-hikers. Huard and Lang got Pine Ellis listed in the guide and subsequent later guides compiled by other authors.
The same day that Huard and Lang returned to the trail, six hikers followed their advice, arriving at Pine Ellis seeking lodging.
Now, almost 14 years and 3,500 backpackers later, the Trainors are still doling out warm hospitality to complete strangers, people who are often in sore need of revival after struggling over Maine’s rugged terrain.
Geographically, Andover is situated in the back yard of the Mahoosuc Mountains of western Maine.
“The Mahoosucs hit them upside the head like a sledgehammer when they never expected it. So this place is like a recovery for them,” Ilene said.
One thru-hiker walked to Pine Ellis from the trail in agony.
“He got here totally depleted. He went to see a doctor and learned he had two broken bones in his foot and he was dehydrated,” she said.
The man returned the following year and finished his hike, and they’ve been friends ever since.
One of the many services the Trainors provide is to pick hikers up at the trail heads and bring them back the next day for a small fee.
“People call us to come get them from Grafton Notch because they just need a place to recover. They’re wet, tired and hungry. We’ve had so many people who were thinking about quitting after coming through the Mahoosucs, but we nurture them back,” she said.
“People can slack pack – day hike the AT without their heavy packs – and come back here at the end of the day for three to four days. They don’t have to worry about wet tents. It rejuvenates them,” Ilene added.
A different kind of recovery
Coincidentally, Andover was just the place the Trainors sought to recover from job burnout with the Massachusetts Department of Human Services. They provided direct care for mentally and physically handicapped people.
“One day we came to Andover and fell in love with the town. We bought a campground by the covered bridge and did a lot of canoeing up here,” she said.
////placement/////Then they bought their current home and converted it into a bed and breakfast, and Paul had a bunkhouse built out back for additional hiking guests.
“When we decided to make the move to come up here, we pulled everything off in 24 hours. We signed the papers for selling our house in Massachusetts in the morning, quit our jobs with the state in the afternoon, watched the moving van pull out, and left in our vehicle to get married the next morning in Norton before we left the state,” Ilene said.
“We had our honeymoon in transit while the movers stored our stuff, and met them here on Pine Street a week later. That took nearly as much planning as a thru-hike,” she said.
Now, Ilene, 64, and Paul, 59, feel like Andover is where they belong. They currently offer lodging in three guest rooms and in the bunkhouse, which is used only in the summer for hikers. The Trainors lower their rates for backpackers using the bunkhouse: It costs as little as $10 to stay a night and get breakfast.
But that isn’t what packs them in, Ilene said.
“Most hikers are looking for a little taste of home. They’re so easy to please. People ask if they can call me their great-aunt or grandmother. And they do get homesick, so we try to make them feel at home. When they come in, the house is open so they can cook or use the laundry facilities for a small fee,” she added.
The Trainors also pick up and hold care packages for hikers and forwarded mail, give them free use of day packs and provide shuttles for a fee to trail heads for day hikes and to other points. Paul also gives them an apple when he returns them to the trail.
“We have met so many nice people that are still in touch with us. We get Christmas cards, letters, calendars, framed photos, stories and mementos from them. Our dog Roscoe even gets Frisbees and postcards from them. Most of them are thankful for the hospitality we offer,” Ilene said.
Comments are no longer available on this story