Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 43, Thursday, 4/28 – I hiked alone out of Damascus this morning. Genie, Splitzy, and Birthday Sandwich are also hiking out today. Parkour and Jetpack are taking a zero day to recover from hiking a lot of miles. Sprite is also zeroing because of achilles pain. Dad, Mom, and Martin are visiting on the 1st, so I wanted to get ahead a bit so I don’t feel pressure to hike crazy distance when the family visits.

It was a great hike today, and the weather was perfect. It’s funny, the AT is such a social trail that I don’t often find myself alone. But I hiked by myself and I didn’t run into too many hikers today. For the first time on the trip, I felt like I was on a typical nature hike. I was simply walking along, looking at birds, wildflowers, and mushrooms.

I hiked 15 miles to Lost Mountain shelter (mile 486). I am camping with Ranger Randy, Mule, Birthday Sandwich, and a bunch of other hikers I haven’t met before. It was a good group today, everyone was very friendly.