The 2nd night of camping on the AT went a lot smoother than the 1st. The weather was much nicer so that helped. There was a slight chance of rain overnight and sure enough it rained. It wasn’t bad though. Just kind of spit on my tent all night. I was on a hill so I slid around quite a bit.
I awoke to the sounds of hikers packing up their things to head out for another big day of hiking. It was still dark out and cold. I had zero motivation to get out of my sleeping bag. I was warm. The lights from other campers headlamps bounced off my tent as they packed up and headed out one by one. The sun finally came up so I deflated my air mattress and started packing.
I ate a protein bar and some oatmeal and finished packing up myself. My tent was soaked on the outside. I was surprised. It’s not like it poured all night. But enough rain spitting on you all night I guess equals a lot. Not including the moisture in general in the air. So my tent was a bit heavier than usual. I grabbed some water and hit the trail.
Just as I got on the trail so did another hiker. His name was Hemingway. He drink wine and journaled every night by the camp fire so others started calling him Hemingway. He was a really nice guy from Rochester, NY. He’s a teacher at a major university up there. He has his masters and was just accepted into another university in Kansas for his Doctorates. So he has to finish the trail before school starts back up in August.
He told me his cousin recently passed away and he felt horrible not being there for the funeral. He spoke to several of his family members and they all encouraged him to stay on the trail. They said it’s what she would have wanted him to do ?
He said he’s missing a few weddings as well but if he makes it back in August as planned he’ll be able to make it to two others back to back. He lost some friends he made while hiking as he had to slow down. His knees weren’t doing well. Like me he refuses to start popping vitamin I (ib profirein) all day to help with aches and pains.
After a few miles of hiking in the middle of nowhere we smelled food cooking. We came into a clearing and to our surprise…trail magic. The same family I saw the day before at Rock Gap was out doing it again. Great people. Great food. The Crawford family. They have a documentary on YouTube. Thier family of 6 hiked the AT last year. With a child as young as 2 yrs old! Pretty amazing. We filled our bellies with eggs and sausage and pancakes. It was delicious!
We picked up Casa and Boot in our party. We hiked most of the day together climbing some serious mountains. We walked on the peaks of several mountains. It was almost straight down on both sides of the trail. At the top of one of the mountains was a fire tower. It was old and rickety but I climbed up anyway. I didn’t think I’d be able to see anything but I climbed above the clouds. The wind was blowing hard. I took some pics and video. I look like a weather man getting blown all over the place.
It was mostly downhill from there. Another 5 miles to go. I had issues with my water camel bag and finding water sources so once again dehydration set in and my feet swelled and started hurting again. I made it to the Nantahala Outdoor Center (NOC) where I found Long Legs eating a huge pizza. We talked for a bit and then I caught my ride to the cabin I rented to hang it up for the night. Another really bad storm coming through. Better safe than sorry.
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