The hostel offered breakfast for their hikers. I was surprised. It is the first hostel that I’ve heard of offering a complementary breakfast. Warthog was up at 7a getting coffee and donuts. I got to stay in the tent until 7:45a or 8a waiting for our friends to also stir. We didn’t leave there until after 10a.
The later start was pushed further back once we saw that Granny and Old Goat were set up offering trail magic again. You can’t be rude and walk on through, so we of course stopped. Not to mention I needed to feed the never ending pit that is my stomach these days. It was another breakfast for us and since we partook in their generosity yesterday, we decided to eat light there. I grabbed two pancakes and put a couple of pieces of cooked ham in between to make a sort of sandwich. It was delicious. Granny made us pay the price again (giving her a hug). She also had us sign the logbook again. We signed as “Bad Company”, the groups’ trailname and then Granny took a picture of all of us, of the “Bad Company”. She got a kick out of it. Just beyond where they were set up was the trail. We sort of linked up with a few other hikers and for a while had a hiker train going. There were eight to nine of us total dodging the overgrown poison ivy and attempting to make conversation as best we could while talking over our shoulders.
We basically spent the entire day wrapping around a lake. It’s not that big of a lake, but it’s divided by a dam. Our first little bit was right next to the shore. The sound of the water lapping brought me home to Michigan and with it, a sense of peace. After a little bit we went up into the mountains, onto a road, next to the dam, and back up further into the mountains.
Our “tramily” is almost complete again and the miles today seemed to go by faster because of it. I’ve learned there is much to be said for the social motivation of a group. We covered 13.2 miles today. It’s not a lot considering we will probably start averaging 15+ miles from here on out. But we had a later start, so I’m still impressed. I was the last one to our site at 5:40p. Warthog had already gotten the tent set up and his bag unpacked. The afternoon has been threatened rain and he wanted to get camp set up before it started. All day has been grey and windy. Occasionally the gloominess would be interrupted by new flowers along the trail: lillies of the valley, flaming azaleas, and lady slippers. Lotus would stop and take photos at each new one.
Tonight we are camped in lower ground. We are still high in the mountains, but chose a tentsite that is dropped down from the ridge. There are trees all around us, some of which are dead. I’m not sure what the winds are predicted to get up to, but I know they are going to be high. Even now I can here them roaring through the sky and leaves. As we made dinner we watched a tree near our site crack and fall to the ground. Every day we climb over or navigate around downed trees. After storms there are typically fresh trees across the trail. I’ve even seen trees fall without wind or warning. You just hear the snap and down they go. We are all trying to position ourselves to be in a safe, smart place. However, as the winds blow we keep hearing cracks. We’ve seen branches and more trees fall. I’m nervous. Warthog is not because, “there’s nothing you can do.” This is the second night on the trail that I’ve been anxious in a storm. The first was our night one, when we were literally in the storm cloud itself on top of a mountain. During that I clung to a guided prayer: “May he (the Lord) guide you through the wilderness, protect you through the storms. May he bring you home rejoicing at the wonders he has shown you. May he bring you home rejoicing once again into our doors.” Protect you through the storms… I was again reciting that tonight. Mostly, I prayed that the winds would die down and I can sleep. Otherwise, I doubt I’ll be able to relax.
Around 9p or 9:30p we did our nightly bathroom break and climbed into our tent to officially go to bed. It was magic (or rather an answer to prayer)… once we were in, the winds slowed and stopped. The rain picked up, but it isn’t rain that makes me nervous. So sleep came quick. Apparently during the night a bad storm blew in. Warthog woke up and poked me to see if I was awake. According to him, I mumbled incoherently. I was unconscious through the entire thing and woke up grateful for it.
-ansel