Date: 2019-07-03
From: Big Meadows Campground 

To: ByrdÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Nest Hut #3
Miles today: 7.2

This morning Thumper and I got breakfast at the lodge. They had a buffet, but the selection was not good. The food is never as fresh as it was when it first came out at buffets, but this one also had only an omelette type egg thing and biscuits and gravy and I don¢t like any of that lol. I know, so picky, but hey I just like what I like! You could order from the menu or do the buffet, so I did the menu. I had a coffee, Thumper and I shared a waffle, and I got pancakes with scrambled eggs, bacon, and potatoes. It was very yummy. Freebird joined us for breakfast! He seems to be taking his time too and boy do I like to meet another hiker who does that.Also by the way, it just occurred to me, Salamander is good peeps! She got a steroid shot and her knee is okay, but she has a friend in the area and is resting anyway. The section Salamander and I were going to skip originally was from the end of the Shenandoahs to Harper¢s Ferry. The Brewery skip was not planned at all. But now we were getting to the skip we both planned on doing, so she jumped up with her friend, and I was going to jump up on July 4. That was my whole goal anyway because if you get to Harper¢s Ferry by then, you¢re pretty solid to make it to Katahdin in time. And my parents wanted to visit and I thought July 4 would be fun!! So I was prepping for my jump anyway at this point and that¢s why I wasn¢t rushing anything. Thumper and I checked out and I took a pic with the bear they have in the lobby. It was such a wonderful stay here. My mood has totally shifted. Today we were going to hike to a shelter (what not a campground?) and then hike 3 miles in the morning to meet Thumper¢s Uncle, who nicely said he¢d drive me part of the way for my skip. I was very thankful for that. Thumper and I went to the campstore to pack out beers because it was our last night and we wanted to celebrate some fun times together. Call your mom Thumper.We realized then that the blue blaze was a walk and the other blue blaze was also a walk and it was a bit annoying. These campgrounds are pretty big! We decided to take the other blue blaze and walked all the way to it. Thumper was being grumpy about this and I was actually the positive one right now. We got back on the AT and went the wrong way for a second, but then turned around and headed north. Thumper went ahead and I had to pee, so I lost him for a bit. When I caught up, he was by a parking lot and said he wanted to yellow blaze. Ahh not again! These little skips are the worst to make up. But it was midday already and I felt pressure to get there so we could meet his Uncle tomorrow and I wasn¢t going to chose a different spot because then Rick would give me sass and think I wasn¢t capable and I just wanted to meet him successfully tomorrow. Thumper and I met a couple in the parking lot who had motorcycles and were headed out for a walk. We chatted for a while and they were super friendly and seemed impressed with the weight of the packs and all. Thumper again pretended he was a thru-hiker. Another woman walked along and saw my legs and ran back to her car to get me something for them. I told her I had tried so many things, but the bugs were just horrible no matter what, and she said she had an oil that would prevent them from biting because they would skip off my skin. At this point, why the hell not? I¢ll try it!So she went and got that, and the couple chatted with us for a while. And then we went to the road and the lady came back with pretzels and water too! That was very nice of her. We thanked her and went to hitch a ride. No one was stopping and I can¢t say I was shocked. I never get a hitch part gazillion. Thumper is very assertive though and it was helpful here. He asked everyone that walked by if they could give us a ride. And finally a family said they might have room. They went to their car and we prayed they could make it work. We sat and waited and they pulled up to us with room in their car! Yay! They took us to a picnic area and from here we¢d only have 2 miles to the shelter. We thanked them and they wished us luck and we put our packs down in the pavilion. I was laughing at the ridiculousness of what¢s been happening the past few weeks. It¢s been a slow adventure, but I¢m really happy to have my happiness back. Happy to be happy haha. I¢m getting through this.We hung out for a while and Thumper was complaining about everything, including the trail magic that he claimed we didn¢t need. Sometimes you don¢t need trail magic, but someone wants to help you and they¢re trying to give you something they¢ll think you need. Just take it and be grateful. Gosh! This kid. Ahhh. We got packed up and headed out and got a huge slap in the face this evening, maybe deserved, who the hell knows. Since we had yellow blazed, we didn¢t know which was was north or south and we went the wrong way. But guess when I discovered this? When I was a mile out the wrong way and Thumper was a mile ahead of me. Wonderful. I started to panic because it was getting dark and we had hung out so long at the picnic area because we only had two more miles to hike, but now we had more than 3 and less time. And it was going to storm and I could see the clouds forming and I was just full of anxiety. I pulled out my phone and had almost no service. Great. I tried to called Thumper over and over, but none were going through. I dropped my pack and ran down the trail to find him. My lost child lol. I honestly felt that worried. I was calling his name and he heard me finally and ran down to me. He was worried I was hurt and that reaction from him really made me feel good. If I was hurt, I would want my friend to drop everything and come running out here. It¢s scary being alone sometimes. He made me feel safe and I didn¢t just view him as a kid right now. He was there for me and wanted me to be okay. He was so worried too. The look on his face thinking I was calling his name because I was hurt, he looked so panicked. We walked to his pack and turned around and kept walking to my pack. I was so glad I found him, but he was so far ahead. We had so much to walk now and for sure would get stuck in the rain. I put my pack back on and we hiked together all the way back through the picnic area. Yeah I guess it serves us right for skipping. Karma¢s a bitch. But now we were going the right way and continued forward. We passed by this super cool view, where it feels like you¢re standing in a half dome, looking at a view from a ridge. The sky looked cool despite the storm. We then had to climb a peak and it was downhill after to the shelter. We got to the top of the peak and another view and saw rain pouring in the distance. Coming right for us I¢m sure! And I was right. We started to walk down and boom. Hardcore pouring rain shower. It was a bit intense. I had had such a stressful time just now and I was even more stressed with the rain. We made it to the shelter though! And no one was there! Yippee we could spread all our wet stuff out and chill! So we did and we drank our beers and enjoyed our last night. It rained all night. Thumper and I thought we heard a bear and I was very scared, but we didn¢t see anything. We did see some huge frogs in the puddles. Mice ran all over the floor all night and we found their hole and gently covered it up with tape. Sorry mice, not dealing with you running all over me at night. Especially when you¢re making nests with my poop. Lol nope. Man what a time. Tomorrow I skip up to meet my parents and get back on track with this whole journey. Here¢s hoping we make it to see Rick! Little Debbie