We were moving at 5:20a. We needed to get camp broken down before it rained. It was forecasted to start at 6a. I think it’s a record for us to get packed up. The rain was fifteen minutes late, but by then we were completely ready for the day. We are kind of awesome. Seriously, it felt great having the tent down dry, same for the rest of our gear.
It rained off and on throughout the morning. It was a softer rain, nothing as hard as yesterday. No thunder or lightning either, just rain. When we woke up I was tempted to take a zero in the tent. I really didn’t want to spend a day sloshing through the forest again. I was wearing the wet socks from the day before because, really, why bother with dry ones. My shoes were still soaked. Even if they had been dry, my feet still would have gotten wet with the rain. I worried about blisters, but didn’t have much choice. By the end of the day both my shoes and socks had completely dried out – a testament to how much they breathe. If it’s windy out, I can feel the breeze drift across my toes. My body heat helped the drying process too.
We had twenty miles to cover today. Getting on the trail at 6:30a set us up for success. Partway through the day we hit a roadside stand with snacks and soda. It’s ran by two kids who live at the house behind the stand. Everything is honor based with suggested prices listed for items. We were excited for the cold sodas and bags of chips. Had there been duck and chicken eggs still available, I may have bought a couple of those to hardboil. They even had a picnic table out near the road for us. It was an incredibly well thought out system.
While we were sitting there, a car pulls up and a woman leans out. She asks if we are hiking the trail. We told her we were, then all of the normal questions followed. Where’d you start? How far are you? Where are you from? Etc. After a couple of these she stepped out of the car with something in her hand. “Hey, listen, I’m a Jehovah’s Witness. Have you ever talked to a Jehovah’s Witness before?” She didn’t give me time to answer and tell her that in fact I’ve had JW’s as friends. She continued, “Well, we believe in … and I have some magazines I’d like to give you to read up on…” I’m not sure if she does this regularly to thru-hikers sitting at the stand or what. If so, I’m frustrated that she feigned interest earlier. Also, if so, she should know that we don’t carry anything that is unnecessary. I almost interrupted her to say, “Thank you but we are all Christians here, so we are all set”. Not at all in a rude way, rather one that shows respect for both of our personal belief choices. Then Snow Monkey (he was closest to her) told her, “Well, we will only take one because we carry as little as possible.” He didn’t realize that they are a set, he thought they were four copies of the same magazine. She said okay and handed him one, then immediately left. They turned around on the road up ahead and drove off. We swore we saw them pass us again, but I can’t be sure. We didn’t take the magazine with us. Again, weight. Also, we are all committed to a church at home. To be honest, the experience left me frustrated. Not because she was trying to talk to me about her religion, I absolutely would have welcomed that, but because of the way she approached it. She left no room for a discussion. Rather, she talked, handed us the magazine, and left. There was no personal connection, no sincerity – that’s what was frustrating. If you want to talk to me, that’s awesome, let’s do it. I love learning about other people and why they make the choices they do and believe what they do. But please, for crying out loud, talk to me not at me. Apparently I’m still a bit riled.
After leaving the farm stand and heading back to the trail, we immediately walked through a cow pasture. There were three calves in the group. We hoped they would walk over to us, but they didn’t. One cow in particular was Warthog’s favorite. She had a black body, but the tuft of hair on her head was an orangish red. It was actually pretty comical to look at. I assume most people who see her laugh and I felt kind of bad for her… sort of, because she was pretty stinking cute.
We had a couple of major pushes today. One started the day and the other finished it. In between that, it was pretty easy terrain. The forest was lush and bright. We had a lot of pretty land we traveled through. We passed by a shelter that is half of a mile off of the trail. It’s considered to be the best shelter on the AT (Goose Pond). We really needed to hike more miles, so we just took a break on the banks of the lake it sits on. After that, we were lucky enough to hit some trail-magic; sodas and bananas. The trail angels weren’t there, just the food was. They placed the bottles down the middle of the path, a presentation that I thought was fun. When Warthog saw it, he threw his arms in the air in celebration. Come to find out, it was left by the aunt and uncle of a guy we are camping with tonight (male “Pig Pen”).
We made our twenty mile goal and are camping next to another lake. The campsite itself is across the path and up a hill a bit. You can slightly make out the lake from between the trees. There is a wind coming off of it, cooling the site down. It’s not Goose Pond but it’s still nice. I like camping next to water. It always reminds me of home. While I write, Warthog is out taking some nighttime long exposure photos. We bought a small tripod and a shutter release chord just for nights like these. I want to be with him taking these photos, but exhaustion is winning out. I need to go to bed. I’m tired. Surprisingly, not as tired as I thought I would be after having hiked twenty miles. I think I’m getting stronger. Well, I hope I am anyway.
-ansel