Today was hands down the hardest day for me on the trail… temporarily. But there’s good news! As bad as it was in the middle, it started and ended in a fantastic way.
We camped at the trail magic and woke up to John making us breakfast. It was so kind, I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the day. We were on the trail by 7:10a. The first couple of miles were awesome. It was early, so the temperature was still cool. The morning sun was streaking in through the trees. You could see moisture lifting in the light. It was gorgeous.
Then the soreness of my feet got immensely more pronounced. Every step hurt, my body was still tired, mentally I was drained. The terrain got more rocky and steep. Finally, I lost it and started to literally sob on the trail. It’s not that I want to be done or to go home… I’m just tired. Everything is tired. I know I’ll rally quickly. But in that moment, I hurt. So I cried. When I decided to gain composure, I straightened up and wiped my tears on my shirt. Then laughed. I smelled like an aquarium. Or like a fish store (where you buy pet fish). I made Warthog smell it too. He agreed. It was a mix of salt and wetness from my sweat (probably also tears), and mildew from the several days of rain we had. The absurdity of it all was hilarious. Even in my lows, I can still laugh.
After my meltdown we had just a little ways until we hit a place called Dragon’s Tooth. It is a large boulder face that juts out of the ground and overlooks the valley below, right at the 700 mile mark! It’s a pretty touristy spot and lots of day hikers even come out for it. I climbed up and sat to enjoy the view with a well earned snack. Grateful to be able to say we’ve hiked 700 miles so far.
After the tooth, it was only a handful of miles until we hit the hostel we planned on staying at. They were some serious tactical handful of miles. You were navigating rock faces and large boulders. One spot had rungs set in the rocks as a ladder down. It was the second time on the trail that I would have suggest someone needed to go northbound. Should we be southbounders, it would have been awful. I was glad to be going down the mountain with the weight of my pack. SOBOers would have to lift themselves up and over all of those boulders with theirs.
Finally… finally, we got to the road. Amazingly, there was trail magic to greet us! This trail magic was hosted by current thru hikers; Sherpa, Kanga, and their daughter, Roo. They are waiting for Katahdin to open so they can go up there and then hike south. I’ve heard about them for the last month or so and have hoped to meet them. Their little girl is 15 months or so, she’s adorable. After enjoying a burger and a beer as a reward for the day, we continued on to the Four Pines hostel.
The hostel is donation based. They have a three stall garage that’s been converted into a lounge area with cots, couches, etc. There’s a single bathroom. You can sleep there or also in the barn… or someone even offered the chicken coop. You can camp on the lawn, which is where we decided to stay. The side of the garage has “Piss Wall” painted on it. A line is drawn about four feet up and it says, “If you can pee above this line, the county fire department wants you.” The instructions are, if you have to urinate, go out on the lawn. If it’s more, use the toilet. The problem is, there’s no private place for ladies. Between needing showers and the toilet, the line for the bathroom got to be over an hour long.
The hostel had dogs, cats, hens, and even guinnea hens that apparently eat ticks. Hearing they eat ticks, I said to Warthog, “If the guinnea hens come running after you, just lay down and let them take you… like they are cleaner shrimps.”
It was Sunday night. The Home Place restaurant was nearby and is a Virginia legend. It was all-you-can-eat (every hikers favorite words) and Warthog described it as, “Grandma’s bringing you homemade food.” Who wouldn’t want that? We had the best friend chicken I’ve ever had, ham, beef, coleslaw, baked apples, biscuits, apple butter, baked beans, green beans, mashed potatoes and gravy. All of it washed down with Arnold Palmers and finished off with peach cobbler. It was fantastic. Hands down, the best meal I’ve had the entire trail.
Afterwards, we were picked back up by the hostel owner. We fit somewhere between 21 and 23 people, two dogs, and three packs in a full sized, extended truck. It was truly impressive. But the owner wasn’t going to be coming back for anyone, so we had no choice… we needed to fit. On the way home we stopped by the gas station to pick up any needed resupply items. It was just fun stuff for Warthog and I; Nutter Butters, Combos, and popcorn.
We got back late and mostly sat around visiting. I called home. When I got out of the tent, the mountains around us were lit up by the millions of fireflies in the trees. It was incredible to watch as they sporadically sprinkled the air. It was a fantastic light show and I felt incredibly blessed to get to watch it. The thing I realize is I only got to enjoy the dinner and see the fireflies in the mountains because of the work I put in to get over those mountains, which makes it even more appreciated. See? A happy, beautiful ending to a horrible middle part of the day.
-ansel