Huffhike

Day 21 Continued (Mile 382.2)

After I posted my blog, I set up my tent and was taking in the view when another thru hiker I knew came up the trail. He complemented me on my campsite and then mentioned the trail angels gave him 6 beers and offered me one. Obviously I accepted his offer and took one.

As the day came to a close I went towards the summit of Jane Bald to watch the sunset, I met two professional photographers. They were incredibly cool and we talked photography and sports a bit as we watched the most beautiful sunset I have seen in my life. After the sun had fully set I wandered off to my tent and called it a day.

Day 22 (Mile 404.2)
At 4am, I felt the wind pick up. Seeing I was sleeping on a bald there was no tree coverage. So when the wind picked up I could feel the tent shake. After a bit I figured I should get up to watch the sunrise, so I battled the wind and picked up my campsite and hit the road. Feeling the dinner from the night before hit I figured I would quickly push 4 miles to the next campsite.

The site was the last site in North Carolina, so I knew it would be the last privy until Virginia. So I made the push and made the privy in great time. After doing my business I ran into a few hikers I met a few days earlier Side Quest, Alex, and Gibson. We talked a bit when they mentioned they were going to stop by Mountain Harbour Bed and Breakfast to recharge and get boxes. Obviously being a thru hiker that was music to my ears so I asked to join in.

The first peak we summited was Hump Mountain which was a beautiful summit that had phenomenal 360 views. It was very reminiscent to the Franconia Ridge if it was plains instead of rock ledges which was really cool. After we summited we hiked a bit more until we hit 19E where we took the 1/4 mile detor to the bed and Breakfast. We then grabbed food (I had a chicken cordon blue burger) and started to charge up while we listened to live music.

After we ate and were ready to go, we kept on hiking north where we eventually crossed into Tennessee fully and crossed the 400 mile mark. We then made it to a stealth camp where we called it a night.

Day 23 (Mile 429)
While hiking the day before I mentioned to the group that I needed to get a package at Boots off Hostel. After talking they mentioned they wanted to stay there as well as they were a legendary hostel, and on top of that they were having some pre trail day festivities. So we started looking at lodging options in the morning and settled on splitting the cost of a yurt.

The hike started off dry and slowly switched to rain, a staple of the Appalachian Trail. After hiking for a while through the rain we stopped for lunch. I was offered some Fruity Pepples with dehydrated milk. It was phenomenal and so worth it. After a bit we crossed paths with an old farmstead which was incredibly cool to see. We then ran into a Riff Raff trail magic. They gave us grilled cheese sandwiches with chilli. They also mentioned they were doing pre trail festivities and offered slack packing for the next section.

We collected all the information and figured we could reasses it later on. After a while we crossed an amazing section of trail that had crazy erosion as well as probably the coolest waterfall Ive seen on trail.

After a bit we made it to Boots off Hostel and ate the McDonald’s we got when we got off trail. I then headed up to grab my box. After talking to the receptionist we realized my resupply box didnt make it. At first I was worried I would be out of food, but I realized that I had enough dinners as I made it a day early and didnt need dinner for the night. So I bought some snacks and then listened to some live music.

Day 24 (Mile 449.4)
After hanging out a bit too late the night before we quickly packed up to make it to pur rides RV at 7am. We decided the Riff Raff offer was too good to miss (free food, place to camp, slack packing (hiking without “uncessary” gear (tent, quilt, etc.)). However, because they were taking business from Boots Off they declined to shuttle us, so Side Quest came up clutch and lined us up a ride with a trail angel who hands out Klondike bars throughout the trail. So by 7am we pilled into the RV and made it to the Riff Raff event in time to get breakfast (our second of the day).

After we dropped off our gear we got a ride lined up and took the very quick ride up to Rt 91. Once we got to the trailhead we were greeted with McDonald’s trail magic where I picked up a beer and a sausage sandwich. We then went off on a 20 mile slack pack heading South on the trail. It was amazing to slack pack. The packs felt incredibly light and the trail was an amazing green tunnel over a ridge line.

Once we finished the 20 mile slack packing I headed back to the Riff Raff event where I ate some pizza, and ate a questionable amount of garlic bread and drank a questionable amount of free Miller Lites.

While chilling around the campfire the topic of my trail name came up. I was originally given the trail name of Bear Bait (BB). But I wasnt a fan so I ended up going back to my name. My friend mentioned Good Will Hunting would be a cool name due to my usage of Wicked. I thought that was a good name and figured I would sleep on it.

Day 24 (Mile 460.8)
Seeing that we had only 20 miles to Damscus and the start of trail days, we figured we could take a mellow day. So we woke up late, ate 3 breakfasts and 4 doughnuts and took the last shuttle out of Riff Raff. We decided to also go back to full packs so we could walk into Trail Days Wednesday instead of shuffling it.

Once we got shuttled we ran into trail magic again where I ate 3 hot dogs and ran into my buddy who I “lost” after Erwin. After catching up a bit he mentioned he thought of a cool trail name for me, “wicked”. Due to me saying it alot. That settled it, I am now Wicked.

After chilling for an hour we started to hike, the first we got was of the iconic barn with the AT logo on it in a meadow. One of the hardest things Ive done on trail so far was continuing to hike. I was so tempted to take a siesta but I knew I had to keep on keeping on. So I kept hiking, throughout the day I hiked with the crew as well as Breeze who is a cool guy I camped with a few days prior.

I think that is something Im so appreciative of about the trail. There is so many amazing and cool people. Everyday you are greeted by a new face and a cool story.

I think so much of our current ecosystem and life is dictated by our differences. Obviously those differences are then played by 24 hour news networks (CNN, FOX, MSNBC) and social media companies to divide us to keep the attention and revenue coming in. But on the trail there isnt a focus on that instead there is a focus on a common goal, Maine (or the last 2 days Damscus). It causes this constant positive vibe where everyone is working in unison and not trying to one up another person.

I think that commonality could easily be found, as its what got us through WW2, economic collapses and so much more. I think if we just remove those dividers like the trail naturally does we’d all be better off.

Anyways the rest of the day was amazing, we made it to camp before the rain got too bad, I ate too much food and crashed hard.