Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 51, Friday, 5/6 – I woke up at 7:45 to a loud “good morning” from Parkour. 7:45 is probably the latest I’ve woken up on trail. We were essentially camping in a cloud, so it didn’t seem all that bright out. I ate breakfast, packed up, and was hiking by 9:00.

I hiked with Parkour and Jetpack for the first half of the day. We stopped for lunch, and then I hiked on alone. It was a laid back hike today. I saw a few deer and some salamanders. It was overcast with sporadic rain throughout the day, so it was nice hiking weather.

I stopped for dinner along Laurel Creek at about 4:30. There was a tent site that had a picnic table that i couldn’t pass up. Parkour and Jetpack caught up and we all ate together.

Even though I had it yesterday, I ate macaroni and cheese again tonight. I heard some advice a while back that’s stuck with me. “If you always eat your best food, you’ll always be eating your best food.” It’s a dumb phrase, but I like it. So tomorrow my best dinner entree will be couscous and salmon because that’s the only dinner entree I’ll have left.

After dinner we all hiked another 2 miles up near Trail Boss trail (16 miles total to mile 586). We heard thunder all the way up the hill. We felt a few drops just as we found an adequate campsite. I started setting up my tarp first for cover, but I didn’t get it set up in time. It started pouring. It was the type of rain where I was drenched immediately. I strung the centerline of the tarp between two trees and just stood between the material for a few minutes to collect myself. As I was staking down the tarp, there were two scary lightning strikes. They were too close for comfort. I rushed to get my tarp setup. I felt safer under the tarp even though it wouldn’t do any good against lighting.

I looked back at my old blog posts, and I just realized that the days/dates at the start of the entries haven’t aligned for a while. I hope that hasn’t messed anyone up! I’ll update them when I have free time and a wifi connection.