Another good nights sleep in the bee farm cabin bunk house bed. Trigger got up before the rest of us and got the coffee brewing once again. We all got up and huddled around the kitchen table with coffee and hand, trail food breakfast in the other, and discussed our plans for the day. We were starting at Spivey Gap and hiking to Uncle Johnnys Hostel— about a 12 mile day.
Cushy, Trigger, Snickers and myself piled into Mike’s truck and headed to our drop off spot. Would you believe it? Trail magic once again! In the same place it was the day before. This was being provided by a different group though. A father and son duo team. They were serving hot dogs, hamburgers, little Debbie cakes, sodas and… beer.
I’m not quite sure how it happened, but someone mentioned the college beer game where you chug a beer, put your head down on one end of the bat, the other end of the bat on the ground, and spin around in a circle 10 times, and then someone pitches you the empty beer can, and you’re supposed to hit it.
Who was up for this challenge at 8:30 in the morning you ask? Well Snickers of course. We competed against the son who was providing the trail magic. Snickers represented us well chugging the beer, spinning around 10 times, and Cushy tossed him the beer can, and he knocked it out of the park! He may or may not have fallen after his amazing hit, but that didn’t matter, he hit it, and the other guy swung and missed.
What a way to start the day. A little trail magic and beer baseball. Finally we were off to the trail and wouldn’t you know it, another hill. You’d think we were hiking in the mountains or something, right? ?
We were all feeling good so we hiked fast not stopping for much. It was a pretty day. I did pause to take some photos of the Nolichucky River on our way down the mountain. Then again once we got to the bottom close to the river across from Uncle Johnnys Hostel. Snickers finished a little ahead of me and grabbed me a Gatorade. It tasted amazing. Mike’s wife Peggy picked us up this time and we headed back to the farm.
We had a special treat waiting for us. Mike was feeding the bees and said we could join him. What an amazing opportunity, right? Except someone, me, is allergic to bees. I really wish I would have gone, but getting stung and having an allergic reaction and swelling up was not something I wanted to risk. So Cushy and Trigger went. They came back and loved it and shared some of their photos and videos with us. How cool!
We all ran a few errands, post office, lunch, resupply, etc. Then I had to bid my trail buddies farewell. I had an amazing time with them this week. It was time for me to take a day off the trail, zero, and catch up on work. Some bad weather was coming so I wasn’t sure how much hiking they’d do, or how far I’d fall behind, but I hoped I’d catch up soon. We shall see…
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