I promised Warthog we’d hit the trail early. We woke up at 6:40a and were out of camp by 8a. Our goal for today was 19.1 miles. We knew we had two hard pushes and would need an second “long” break, so we couldn’t leave late.
Today we hiked through farmers fields. We got to see a 300 year old oak tree, cairns (rock piles built by men) thought to be from early cowboys/farmers. We ate lunch at an overlook, the meadow and it’s inhabitants below. We spent quite a lot of the afternoon navigating rock faces on a mountain ridge. We saw two different kinds of snakes, a deer, and another skink. Kirby found another tick. It terrifies me. Ticks terrify me.
We took our second long break at a shelter. I hobbled for probably a quarter mile afterwards, trying to get back in the rhythm. I’m still struggling mentally, but by mid afternoon/early evening I seemed to shake it. My body finally felt strong for a bit and just when I needed it to. We pushed up a 2.2 mile climb in an hour and ten minutes, sweat pouring off of us.
At the very top of the climb I caught a flash of something bobbing in the wind. It was a balloon! Next to it was a sign … TRAIL MAGIC!!! It’s been fewer and farther between our trail magic. This was an amazing sight for us. As soon as we realized what it was, we started running.
The trail magic was hosted by ’01 and ’13 thru hikers (’01 – John, Briarpatch ’13 – Magic) and their friends. It’s a standing Memorial Day Weekend tradition for them to get together to camp and do trail magic. They offered piles of pizza, hamburgers, chips, rice krispy treats, candy galore, beer, soda, a hand washing station … it was amazing. One of our favorite trail magics for sure. Just short 2.2 miles of our goal, we decided to stay the night. The campfire drew Warthog in. They were an incredible group of people and a reminder of the lasting relationships that we are creating along the trail. It was a beautiful reward for a day of hard hiking.
-ansel