Date: 2018-05-27
From: Lickskillet Road

To: Woods Hole Hostel
Miles today: 0.0

It was really hard getting out of bed. Hotels have the softest beds and pillows. We needed to get up because the hotel had continental breakfast!  It had bacon, biscuits, gravy, sausage, eggs, omelettes, bagels, a machine that made pancakes, pastries, yogurt, milk, orange juice, and coffee. I had it all. About 2 1/2 plates worth. I had to get my monies worth of food. Theresa ate half as much. We went back up to our room and packed up.  I wanted to show Theresa Grayson highlands but the weather looked like it was going to rain. We opted to do trail magic instead! At Walmart we bought soda, beer, juice, water, bananas, tangerines, donuts, chips, nutter butters, cosmic brownies, Reece's cups, cheese crackers, and oatmeal. I looked at the guide and remembered Laurel Creek Falls was a good place to give out food. That was an area where you didn't have much resupply for 40 miles. Hikers arriving at he point would be running out of food trying to get to Bland, VA. Also it had been raining for the last few days. I figured a nice pick me up would be great in that location.  We setup our trail magic at Laurel Creek. There wasn't any hikers for about 30 minutes. Eventually we saw a hiker named Bob come walking down the trail. He was so happy to have a beer and snacks. Theresa was happy to make people's day after the long haul. Other hikers trickled in one by one or in groups. We got excited to see another hiker come down the mountain. Everyone mostly wanted the beer and ran out of that first. At one point we had about 7 hikers hanging out chowing down on snacks and drinks. Snail Trainer a hiker from Oxford packed out 2 of the beers and had 2 while hanging out. A guy from Austria named Halfway came down the hill. He mentioned that he watched a documentary about the AT. It showed the nice downslopes and trail magic. However, when he started hiking the trail he realized that was not the case. Theresa and I hung out there until 4:30 then packed up when no more hikers were coming down the mountain.  Booga had told us that Happy Feet was going to have a birthday party in the woods.  It was at the campsite right past Brushy Mountain Outpost. When we arrived everyone started singing happy birthday to me with a cake lit. They were doing that for everyone that showed up. They had a large tarp setup with light, a stream filled with beer, 15 pizzas, cake, chips, and snacks. Sparrow, Reggie, Amazonian, Francis (now Chumbawomba), Happy Feet, and Giggles were there.  I hadn't seen a most of them since trail days. Booger Bear showed up and we all sang Happy birthday to him as well. His parents hung out there for a bit as well. Theresa and I stayed a little bit since we had a reservation for Woods Hole hostel.  We headed to Woods Hole following the GPS.  That was a mistake. There was a sign saying end of town maintenance. It took us on a dirt road into the mountains.  We were driving a Nissan Versa and it had trouble with the terrain. There were large potholes and part of the road was washed away. The GPS told us to turn on a road that didn't exist. It got worse and we decided to turn around because we would get stuck and had no signal to call for help. We backtracked about 8 miles to the paved road again and finally had signal.  I called Woods Hole and Neville said that the GPS takes you on the wrong route. We ended up driving all the way around the mountain to the other side. The road was paved all the way there until the last mile but it was well maintained. Woods Hole is a paradise for hikers. It's nestled in the mountains and really close to the trail. They have home cooked meals with vegetables right from their garden.  There are many places to sit and hang out while enjoying a rustic view of fields and mountains. When we arrived everyone was eating a homemade dinner. Unfortunately, we were too late to partake. Scissors and Kamikaze were there as well. They took a zero there since it was raining and didn't feel like hiking. I totally understood. Theresa and I had a private safari tent to stay in.  It had a queen sized bed with a front porch and chairs. We hung out with everyone for a bit. Theresa met a guy from Michigan who was giving her grief about going to The Ohio State University. I'll never understand the rivalry between those two colleges. I went to The University of Akron. Its college football was not in the big 10.  We all moved to the common room in the bunkhouse to play cards against humanity. There I met Rocky who was doing a work for stay at Woods Hole. He had force opened a pressure cooker the day before and had scalding burns on his stomach, legs, and arms. His legs had huge open wounds. He had not seeked medical attention and was just trying to keep them clean. He was young and naive to not go to a clinic. At least to have antibiotics if the wounds do get infected. Doctors who rolled through the area told him to keep them clean, but what they told them was filtered through what Rocky told us. Scissors being an operation technician thought he should go to a clinic. Rocky also kept prying into Kamikaze's personal life. I understood that she didn't want to talk about it especially during a game of cards against humanity. He was also encroaching on her personal space. Luckily the game ended pretty soon at 10 pm which was quiet time. Theresa and I headed to our safari tent. It had started thundering and raining.  Tonight I'm listening to the rain pounce off the safari tent while snuggling up to my lady. Sadly this will be the last night with her until I see her in a month in Ohio.