Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 41, Tuesday, 4/26 – I woke up to the realization that it didn’t rain overnight, even though it was forecasted to rain. I got out of the hammock thinking I should rush to break camp before the rain started. Instead, I looked up to a clear blue sky. I’m beginning to think that the forecast errs on the side of the weather being worse than it is.

The rain did eventually arrive by late morning. Sprite, Parkour, Jetpack, and I hiked through the rain together. I spent a lot of time catching up with Parkour and Jetpack. We had been separated for 2 weeks, and a lot happened in 2 weeks.

We stopped for lunch at a shelter and waited for the rain to stop. We began hiking after the rain had mostly passed, but it was still cold and foggy. We ran into trail magic in the early afternoon. Ann had an impressive spread of baked goods, but I really wasn’t craving anything sweet. Ann did have homemade sausage cheddar biscuits; I ate 2 and packed another 2 out. These were great. I’m going to look up a recipe when I’m not living out of a backpack.

Towards the end of the hike I could feel a sadness coming over me. I was thinking about sad love and relationship memories. I was trailing a bit behind Parkour, Jetpack, and Sprite. They had stopped after hiking 18 miles at a non-designated tent site (mile 462). When I get into a headspace where I think about sad memories, I default to being alone. There was still daylight and I had a lot of energy, so I considered hiking on. I’m glad I didn’t, quality time with friends distracted me from myself.

Genie and Splitzy caught up with us and also set up their hammocks. We only have an 8 mile hike into Damascus tomorrow where we’ll all stay in town.