Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 68, Monday, 5/23 – I woke up at 6:30am, and grabbed my food bag from out of the tree. As I was eating breakfast, Genie and Splitzy hiked up. I was surprised to see them so early. I was even more surprised to learn that they had already hiked 4 miles. They stopped, refilled water, and ate a snack. I packed up and was ready to go at the same time as them, so we all hiked out together.

It was a cool morning, and overcast. This was a nice change of pace from the sunny days with temperatures in the 90s. The day started with a 3,000ft descent over 4 miles, and was followed up with 3,400ft of ascent over the next 6 miles. We hiked through fog for a lot of it, which meant no views. Fortunately, the rain held out as we were hiking the steep sections of trail today. Once we finished the climb, the rain started.

I hiked 16 miles today to Reid’s Gap (mile 845). From there Genie, Splitzy, and I started to hitch. It was cold and rainy, so we hoped to land a hitch without too much waiting around. A Lexus SUV was driving in our direction. Splitzy said we had no chance as the car was too nice. We were all a bit surprised to see the car pull over for us. Neil stopped and gave us all a ride to Devils Backbone. Devils Backbone had a brew pub and also offered free tenting for thru hikers.

Genie, Splitzy, and I went into the brew pub and found Dillan and Birthday Sandwich. Dillan and Birthday sandwich had been there for a few hours by the time we arrived. We all got lunch and then set up camp. Everyone went back out for dinner, but I decided to eat mac-n-cheese in the hammock. It was good food, but it was relatively expensive, so I was trying to save some dollars.