Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 145, Monday, 8/8 – I got up at 6:00am this morning, and I slept great. I went down to the kitchen and joined Genie and Splitzy for coffee and a homemade muffin. We sat outside on the front porch and enjoyed the morning. I ate a few pieces of leftover pizza for breakfast, and still had a couple leftover slices to pack out for lunch.

I was in high spirits today. Between the shower, the laundry, the town food, and the bed with linens, I felt completely refreshed.

We all got a shuttle back to trail at 8:00am. I hiked out with Birthday today. We hiked 6 miles to a shelter where we stopped for lunch. We climbed 2,000ft over the 6 miles, but the trail felt gentle. It’s so nice to be hiking trail that doesn’t feel so precarious. We were just able to hike along and chat.

I ate my last 2 slices of leftover pizza in the shelter. Aqua, Genie, Splitzy, and Pounder all caught up and stopped for lunch too. It started raining when we were in the shelter, so we timed the stop well.

From the shelter, we had a steep descent down into Sawyer Brook, then a steep climb up to Moody Mountain, followed by a steep descent down to South Arm Road.

At the road, there were signs for trail magic. Patriot had a canopy set up in the woods with a cooler full of cold drinks and candy. Patriot wasn’t around when I was there, but his buddy, I Will, hosted us in his absence. We all hung out for a bit before hiking on.

We had a steep climb up Old Blue Mountain. About half way up, Aqua mentioned that she didn’t feel well. Apparently she had been feeling nauseous all day. Genie, Splitzy, and I took a break with her, then slowed down our pace to match Aqua’s pace.

We finished our day next to Old Blue Mtn Brook (Mile 1952). I set up my tarp and hammock a bit down trail at the first available stealth spot, then brought my pack back to the rest of the crew to cook dinner. As I was starting to cook, I could hear thunder in the distance. As soon as I finished making ramen, it started raining. I quickly packed up, then walked back to my hammock while carefully carrying both my pot of ramen and my stove.