Hiking the AT – You are Wolverine / Bushy Mountain Burger / Motel Mix & Mingle

I awoke in my tent. We had a long day yesterday so I slept pretty well. I prepared and ate a little breakfast as I caught up on some work items. I heard several people leave camp as I packed up my stuff. Others were gathering around the picnic table by the shelter eating breakfast. So I went over to say good morning to them all.

I met Evergreen and Tater. Two new hikers I hadn’t met before. When I told them I was Wolverine, they perked up and said, “oh, you’re who everyone was looking for last night?” I laughed and said, “really?” apparently when it was getting dark several people came into the camp before me, and the crew I was hiking with, approached them saying “Wolverine?” It’s nice to know they were looking out for me ☺️

I told several people who I knew there about Honey Buns up coming party. I exchanged numbers with several of them so I could provide more details when I got them myself. As usual I told Mulligan I was heading out and I’d see him up the trail.

We slept in a gap so I had a steep climb to start my day. Once up top it was a gradual downhill until I reached the bottom where there was a nice flowing creek. I crossed a small bridge and then followed the trail up between two creeks, one on each side of the trail. The creeks cascading down on both sides as I hiked up. It was really pretty.

I met two women section hiking. I passed them initially but we ended up hiking about the same speed so we chatted for a bit. Their names were Gram Cracker and Jackie. Gram Cracker hiked the AT years ago. Jackie was doing the AT in sections. Gram Cracker got her trail name because she’s a Grandma or Gramma, and Cracker because she’a from Florida.

We stopped at a view where Evergreen was taking a break. We all had some water and a snack. Evergreen headed down the trail, I followed shortly after, telling Gram Cracker and Jackie it was nice meeting them.

A few miles downhill we arrived at Bushy Mountain Grill. There were quite a few hikers there. Several of the hikers from our crew were there, plus Savage and Bruiser as well. It was a nice surprise to see them. I saw Bruiser first. Then Savage came out of the grill yelling to Bruiser, “what do you want to drink!?” I replied, “root beer!” We both laughed and said hello. Moments later Savage came out with a drink for Bruiser and a root beer for me ☺️ I thanked him and told him he really didn’t have to do that. It was extremely hot out so the cold drink really hit the spot. We chatted for a bit before I went into the grill to get me something to eat.

Mulligan showed up. We ordered the Bushy Mountain Burger. It was huge and had really thick piece of fried bologna on it. It came with a ton of fries too. Several others ordered it as well. Even with our hiker hunger we couldn’t finish it. It was just too much food.

We needed to resupply, do laundry, and were due for a shower too. On a wall inside the grill was a list of places to stay and shuttle drivers as well. We found a motel and called to book a room, then called “Bubba” to come pick us up.

Gram Cracker and Jackie showed up and got something to drink to cool down. We were chatting and found out they were staying at the same motel down the road. So when Bubba showed up to take us, they hopped in too. We arrived at the motel and checked in. Gram Cracker offered to take us to resupply. So we showered quickly and met her and Jackie and headed out.

Mulligan and I got food for the next days from a local grocery store. We got back to the motel and Gram Cracker offered us some beer. We accepted, thanked her, and all sat on the outside patio socializing. The father-daughter section hiking duo I ran into several times over the past few days were staying there too. So they joined us as well. It was nice. We all enjoyed getting to know each other over a few beers.

Mulligan and I still had laundry to do so we had to head back to our room. The motel didn’t have a washer or dryer, so we had to hand wash our clothes in the bathtub and hang them outside behind the motel to dry. We probably should have done that earlier so our clothes had time to dry in the sunshine. After a few hours we brought them back in afraid the morning dew would dampen them. So we had a clothesline hanging up in our room with clothes hanging all night. We reached a new level of HoBo that night 😉 We crashed in our beds shorty afterwards and fell fast asleep.

Please Donate: https://fundraise.showhope.org/hikeforhope