It’s Cinco de Mayo. Holidays tend to make me miss home. Somehow they mark the passing of time in a way that the calendar cannot. They bring me back to my rhythm at home, then I miss the people and traditions that are a part of it. Today, on Cinco de Mayo, Warthog and I would typically invite our friends over for the first party of the spring/summer. If the weather is nice, we would sit on the patio and near the end of the night walk up to the local ice cream shop for dessert. It is a favorite springtime moment for me, preparing me for the many other gatherings we will have through the summer.
I thought through what we were carrying in our food bag and couldn’t remember if we had any Mexican themed dishes for dinner. I knew breakfast and lunch were out, unless you count the chipotle flavored hot sauce Warthog uses on his chicken and tortillas. I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to fix for dinner, but did remember that we had some Mexican Chocolate Mousse we could whip up for dessert. I told Warthog that I wanted to do that and share it with the group in celebration for Cinco de Mayo.
We never made the dessert. To our bellies delight, we actually got to have trail magic twice today! Once was for lunch and the other was dinner. The first was former thru-hikers. They had a fire going, drinks (sodas and beer), fresh fruit, and made delicious tacos (we each got one). They even had the tortillas that you grill on a skillet. It was amazing. We stayed longer than we meant to, extending our visit because we saw the tacos go on. However, rain was coming and we still had many miles to get in, so the trail called.
Sometimes the trail runs through private land. I’m not sure how the Appalachian Trail Conservancy negotiates that, but somehow they must. After the trail magic we hit one of those spots again. This time, we hiked about a half mile through a cow pasture – complete with cows. It was drizzling now which didn’t seem to phase the cows. Although they did look at us as if in disbelief. I always wonder that animals are thinking when they see us. We must look like silly creatures with our backpacks and trekking poles. I know the poles always spook horses, but the cows played it cool while we navigated through their pasture.
A little after that and around 2:30p we ate lunch on the side of the trail. Not too big of a lunch, since we had some at the trail magic, but enough to get us by for the next 5-6 miles. Again, hiker hunger is real. Plus food is weight, so we want to eat as much as we can to bring down our pack weight.
We hiked a total of 14 miles today. Two miles short of our original goal. We had a later start than normal and stayed late at the trail magic. Sometimes these days happen. It’s part of hiking the AT. Plus, it’s the interruptions that make the experience. Which means that I will gladly be two miles short to have an impromptu afternoon fire with a bunch of previous thru-hikers, especially since free food and advice was involved!
Most of our miles were easy. I was glad to get the “break” and was sure to appreciate the easier terrain. We stopped at a campsite and debated as a group whether or not we wanted to stay there. It 5:30p then. The site was nice and big for all of us, but there was no water. In .2 miles was a gap where we knew a spring would be and also a major road. We decided to push on and see what other options there were. We didn’t go far. At the road was another trail magic! I heard Kirby exclaim and then saw Warthog go running. All of our paces picked up and our smiles started to spread. As a hiker, you can’t help but smile when we walk up to trail magic. You are just so freaking happy to get to have it. I couldn’t believe we almost missed it by just .2 miles.
This time the trail magic was a future thru-hiker. It’s the first time I’ve seen that on this trip. Most have been either a previous thru-hiker or their family members. He plans to hike in 2020. He brought two friends with them, all are fire fighters. They are from a town about 20 minutes outside of New Orleans. I think it’s awesome that they took the time to drive all of this way to hike a bit and do trail magic. I’m sure it fuels him to meet all of us. Maybe if Warthog and I do trail magic ourselves in 2020, we will get to see him. I sure hope we do.
They were set up right at the gap on the side of the road. There’s a good parking lot here and a couple of hikers had set up tents near them, knowing they will be serving breakfast the next morning. Having looked up the trail a bit, the tent spots seemed like they would become a mud pit. Lotus and Atlas decided to go back the .2 miles to the site we were at. Warthog, Kirby, and I all stayed at the gap. We are half in the gravel parking lot and half on the lawn near the forest. There are more tents in between us and the rest of the parking lot. I would feel exposed to the locals except there are so many of us. My only worry with this spot is if a car lost control and came crashing towards us. At least all of the fire fighters are also paramedics. So I feel like we are in capable hands. Capable hands that I sure hope we don’t ever need to use. The road isn’t too busy. It’s late and I haven’t heard a car go by in the last 45 minutes.
Tomorrow we go to town!
-ansel