AT Day 18

2014/4/18 Mile 265

Got up at 0530 and had breakfast with Rocket and another guy who was a regular fixture of the hostel. Packed up as quietly as possible, paid for my stay, and hit the trail by 0700. Felt good to be on time.

On the first uphill caught up with a girl named Zig-Zag and her dog Lazarus. We both hit the trail magic at the top around the same time. A guy named Apple was giving out doughnuts and sodas.

Headed on up to a cool bald that had one of those directional beacons on top for aircraft (can't remember what they are called).

Afterwards met 3 women thru-hikers who were a lot of fun to talk to: Bama, Coco Peli (sp?), and Tigger. They recounted trying to play a practical joke on some fellow hikers by taking their bear bag down and spreading the food around before they got up. The plan was foiled because they couldn't stop giggling.

After quite a few more miles I hit Max Patch. It's a huge bald with an amazing 360 view of mountains. While the day had been pretty overcast it was still a good view.

Pushed on and had a big lunch because of the miles I wanted to knock out. Ran a across at least 10-12 hikers throughout the day all headed in to Hot Springs on Saturday. Seems like either Easter or 4/20 has everyone excited.

Ended up picking a camp site on an old road bed near the trail. After 25 miles of walking I felt pretty good but didn't want to overdo it by doing 30 to the next shelter. Cooked dinner and got the tent and bear bag taken care of.

Right before turning in a hiker came by saying that there were people camped about 2 miles away with trail magic food and booze. Tempting, but at this point I just wanted to rest so I decided to stay. Figure I'll have enough fun in Hot Springs tomorrow.