Huffhike

Day 29 (Mile unknown)

After leaving trail days I felt extremely droggy and still a bit burnt out. But I was able to crush some miles. Due to starting late (close to 11am) and the humidity. The hike was a struggle especially the climb out of Damascus. For the most part the hike shouldn’t have been too challenging but it felt like it was.

But I kept hiking on and for the most part it was a pretty smooth trail all the way to the detour. Due to the hurricane a few years back  there was a 20 mile section of trail that was closed. So we had to take a detor trail that looped around the trail. Eventually, we found a stealth camp where we camped for the night.

Day 30 (Mile 500.2)

The humidity continued to press on today. In an attempt to get ahead of it we woke up around 5am and hiked as much as possible before the sun and humidity took over. Alot of the day, I spent just reflecting on the trail. Obviously hitting a month on trail is a massive milestone, but also knowing that I would hit the 500 mark felt so surreal.

For a most part alot of the reflecting came in what got me here, knowing that to make it to Maine, I need to continue to focus on longevity. I need to keep up on streching and cork balling, I need to try to eat as many fruits and veggies in town, and most of all keep eating.

After a few miles of hiking I hit the unofficial beginning of the Highlands. They were beautiful meadows with views of the mountain ranges as far as you can see. The coolest part being the storms brewing in the background.

After another 3 or 4 miles (which I took slow to enjoy the views) I hit the 500 mark. It was so amazing to hit that point, but also so wild to comprehend that Im still not even a quarter of the way through the trail. I then of course got a few pictures for the gram and then headed off to the campsites.

Once I got to camp I heard a moo, so of course I investigated it. After a bit of walking I stumbled upon 3 longhorn bulls. After snapping a few photos the bulls gave us the sign to leave them alone. So I started to walked back to camp when out of the blue a bunch of horses came running out of nowhere past me. It was litterally the coolest thing Ive experienced on trail.

Day 31 (Mile 520.4)

During the night I woke up to the sound of something galloping through camp. After talking to everyone I camped with we came to the conclusion that it was a horse who ran through camp. After catching an amazing sunrise I packed up camp and started to hiker.

After hiking for a bit I hit the Highlands State Park. It was a beautiful strech of trail. However, the coolest part of the trail was when passing over a mountain when I saw a pack of horses grazing on grass. It was an amazing sight especially seeing the family of horses just hanging about. I spent a solid 30 minutes just hanging about when I ran into two of my friends.

I continued to hike with them until we saw a pack of Long horns cross the trail. As the first 3 passed by we noticed 2 more coming up the rear. As the fourth one was walking it stopped and sided eyed us. Knowing it wanted us to move we took a few steps back, to let it know we werent a threat. The bull then continued to walk past us.

After hiking a bit more, we eventually ran jnto some trail magic. The trail magic was top notch, I had 3 brats and 2 Mnt. Dews. While leaving we noticed a flyer that a local church was offering free shuttles to a picnic where they offered free free and a ride back that night / the following morning. Not being able to resist a free meal I covered those miles as quickly as possible and made the shuttle with 30 minutes to spare.

Once we got to the church we were greeted by warm burgers, hot dogs, sides and desserts. I had a questionable amount of food and we then reanagred the tables and slept while our devices were charging up.