Addendum to two days ago: I saw a timber rattler for the first time! He was about two and a half feet of ugly snake in the middle of the trail. It looked at me, I looked at it, and then I contemplated what to do. I just walked around it in a roundabout fashion. I made no sudden movements and neither did he. Unnerving but I was excited to see him. (end of addendum)
Woke after what I wouldn't call a restful sleep. I quickly packed my tent and was off. Breakfast provided via trail magic was just four miles away! I trotted through the woods at a good clip but not so fast as to get lost.
As I sprang from the woods into this parking area the first breakfast sandwiches were being served by two thruhikers from 2007. There were tents, tubs of gatorade, water, and beer(!), snack foods, fresh fruit, and hot meals being prepared. This was hiker nirvana. Since they'd hiked before, they knew the game. It was excellent. I don't think I've ever had a breakfast sandwich that tasted so good (mom and aunt donna, we'll say you can have a rematch the next time I see you!).
The providers were also offering to slack pack people. I didn't give it much though until Gribley (a 21 year old spiritual, young man with an enjoyment of people) came up. The fact that he showed up, as early ad he did, perplexed me. He was one of the hikers that the Doyle from a few days ago had left poorer and less than enthusiastic about hiking out of Duncannon the day that I did. Apparently, he'd been putting in some good miles to meet his dad in Hamburg later that day. Neat. After talking with the trail magic providers, he declared he would leave the bulk of his stuff, have his dad pick it up in the car as he drove to Hamburg, and he would slack pack the fifteen miles into Hamburg. That sounded like a great idea. I asked Gribley if he would mind if I did the same. This is where things get interesting.
Turns out both Gribley and I thought we should leave our cell phones and wallets in the bags his dad would pick up later. I think we just started grabbing weight indiscriminately and tossing it into the storage bags. Oh, to be young and stupid. Equipped with water and snacks, we left.
Those miles flew by. It was really just a blur. There were no views at all. The best part although stupid was downhill, cross country "skiing" the last 0.5 miles down the gravel covered trail. We were giggling like little boys. Yip... Yip... Weeee.
Once in town we called his dad from Cabelas (huge outdoor store - makes Bass Pro shops look small). His dad was stuck in traffic for another 4 hours. Here we were, two hikers with nothing but twenty dollars between us, pretty much possessionless, with nothing to do for four hours. Problem number two became clear when we realized the trail magic people were only stating until about 7. That is one hour before his dad would be there. Uh oh. We had mentioned the hotel Gribley was going to stay out though.
Because this us going to take too much time... long story short - the trail magic was still there when Gribley's dad came through, we waited for his dad at their motel un the lobby eating free cookies and watching fast and the furious, his dad took us both out to dinner, took us to Walmart so we could resupply,offered me a free bed in a 100$/night hotel, and drove me to the trail in the morning before they did their thing. Wow. They were both incredibly kind and generous. Also was able to get a continental breakfast at the hotel. Today was trail MAGIC.
No comments:
Post a Comment