Date: 2004-06-05
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Gren Anderson Shelter 
Miles today: 21.0

Today could best be described in 2 words: Trail Magic. As I was walking this morning when I ran into Kevin from Connecticut, who is hiking the AT in sections. The second time I sat down to take a break with him and he just kept giving me more and more food: 2 Snickers bars, granola, trail mix, instant breakfast and powdered milk. So nice! I was running a little low on food too so I am definitely happy for the reinforcements.Then I went to one of the shelters for some water and ran into Desperado; trail angel legend from way back in the dark ages. Very cool guy. He gave me the insider info on places to stop all the way from here to Maine. I had my pen out and wrote all of it down. He maintains a few shelters and in the bear boxes at all of them he leaves cookies, juice crystals and candies, as well as TP and fuel. Seriously, who is this awesome to do this for hikers? Only on the AT.It had been raining all day so when I stopped in at the first shelter for water I was tired and cold. Just as my luck would have it Desperado was heading to the next shelter down the line about 6 miles away, exactly where I was planning on stopping for the night. I asked for a ride and he was happy to give me one! I covered the six miles in record time, about 20 minutes!My trail magic quota has now far far exceeded my fair share. A lot of it has to do with my being a single girl on the trail. I think most people just naturally want to help me more then the single guys. I think it could also be that I travel alone during the day. It is a lot less intimidating for people to just talk to me, instead of a pack. I think it might also be that I actually stop and talk to people. Some thrus just blow past everyone and then complain about not getting any magic. I am also a shelter junkie, generally spending an hour or two at almost everyone on the trail and where shelters are, people will be also. So for aspiring Thru-hikers, remember these tricks of the trade. Lots of trail magic equals a happy hike.So now I lay in my sleeping bag watching the rain and eating the trail magic cookies, drinking trail magic lemonade. Rain, rain, rain. The privy doesn¢t have a roof or sides to it, so I sat on the can while my little umbrella kept me nice and dry. How enjoyable. I saw another bear today as I was leaving the Outdoor Center. Well, actually I just saw his backside as he was running away. That makes 4 bears.Three guys out for the weekend just showed up for a break. It¢s quite a Gong-Show. They want to make coffee, so one guy lit up the stove but the other guy doesn¢t even have the pot out of his pack. The pot is out and now the guy has to find his water. He doesn¢t have enough water so he has to root through his friend¢s bag for some more. All the while the stove is going, wasting enough fuel to cook an entire Liptons. It¢s some good entertainment. Better than the movies. His water is now boiling and the coffee is ready but the 2 friends have disappeared somewhere.I feel like my latest entries have been really long. Maybe it¢s this new notebook I got, it is a lot bigger than the last one. Hammock Hanger is the transcriber of the Year, maybe the Century, especially when you consider how messy my writing is. I wonder if she¢ll enjoy writing this. (TRANSCRIBER¢S NOTE: She wrote it so I typed it. Can you see my cheeks turning red? With a head this big it will be hard to carry it up the trail¢¦ Sue/HH)JB ¢ ¢Tell It Like It Is¢¢¦