Today we got to slack pack! Atlas’ parents were at the parking lot around 9:30a. We almost beat them there… almost. His mom was ready to go! We only planned on hiking ten miles today since she is joining. Much more than that and it starts to be too much for her.
It was absolutely amazing getting to slack pack. After a difficult week, it was such a relief to walk through the woods with the weight literally taken off of my back. It allowed me to actually look at the forest and what was around me. I had the energy to really enjoy the miles. Basically, it revived me. I think the slack pack did more for me mentally than our zeros in town have. That may be because we’ve had plenty of zeros on the trail and this is our first slack pack. Either way, I really enjoyed it.
We found a red balloon stuck in a tree today. Warthog fished it out and then proceeded to hike with it, half deflated, down the trail. One hiker we passed said, “Oh… what a sad looking hiker” and then laughed. We stopped at a road crossing for lunch and he left it on another thru hikers truck as a joke, tucked under the passenger windshield wiper.
At that road crossing was also a swimming hole, everyone went in for various amounts of time. It felt great to wash off the heat of the day. There were so many hikers there hanging out happy to be in the cool water. One even saw a snake, but it was swimming downriver, so no one worried too much.
Atlas and his parents are apparently staying at a local historic hotel. It inspired Warthog to be impulsive and during one of our breaks he booked us a room for two nights. He was motivated by the fact that we have an easy ride back and forth (since we’ll be starting and stopping at the same places Atlas will). It was impulsive, but every now and then Warthog is. It’s a quality that I appreciate about him.
As we were nearing the end of the day, we passed through an amazing shelter with split levels, a porch, windows and everything. I kind of wished we were staying there, but knowing we have such a nice hotel room coming, I’m happy to press on.
We followed a side trail to get to where Atlas’ dad would be picking us up. It was steep and the grass was overgrown. We figured there would be ticks. Sure enough, I pulled a tiny one off of my socks. No tick bites… not yet anyways.
After getting picked up, Atlas’ parents treated us (Kirby, Lotus, Warthog, and I) like kings and queens. First, they stopped by a store and bought us all something to drink. Then they insisted on taking us to an all-you-can-eat Italian buffet at the hotel. It was so incredibly generous and even more appreciated. After dinner, we returned to our impromptu fun night in a room and slept in luxury, glorious luxury.
-ansel