Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 117, Monday, 7/11 – The Upper Goose Pond Cabin had a caretaker, Sue, who prepared breakfast for all the hikers. I woke up and had a pancake and a cup of hot coffee. I could have eaten more, but the food goes quick when there’s a couple dozen hikers around.

I hiked out with Genie, Splity, and Aqua this morning. I spent the morning talking to Genie about Dungeons and Dragons. He was telling me that he played with fellow thru hikers on his 2013 AT thru hike. I’ve never played before, but have wanted to after watching Stranger Things. He explained the premise of the game, and how they were able to play on trail during his 2013 hike. He said it was fun, but it certainly slowed down their hiking pace. Ultimately, he didn’t recommend playing it on trail.

I took more Imodium today, but it still is not addressing the symptoms it’s purported to address. This is day 3 now. It’s both unpleasant and inconvenient to deal with this on trail.

I fell behind Genie, Splitzy, and Aqua, but ran into 100 Grand and Acoustic taking a break at a road crossing. I took my pack off, joined them, ate some snacks, and chatted with them for a bit.

I hiked on and caught back up with Genie, Splitzy, and Aqua. They must have taken a break a little farther down trail than me. We hiked together and came across the Cookie Lady. During the hiker season, they have cookies and lemonade for thru hikers on their property. The property was gorgeous. They had comfy chairs in a nice shady yard. It ended up being a very long break.

Genie, Splitzy, Aqua, and I hiked out from the Cookie Lady and ran into more trail magic. Bonnie and Richard had fresh fruit, cold sodas, and snacks laid out. We hung out for a little while before finishing the day.

The hiking was great today. There weren’t many steep climbs, and the trail wasn’t rocky. The weather wasn’t stinking hot, so I didn’t sweat as much as I have lately. There were also some ripe blueberries along the trail, so I did some snacking as I hiked along.

I hiked 18 miles to Kay Wood Shelter (mile 1570). I’m hammock camping with Genie, Splitzy, and Aqua. We all ate dinner together before I retired to my hammock and blogged before going to bed.