Date: 2023-08-31
From: Route 2

To: Trident Col Campsite
Miles today: 6.9

I didn¢t sleep the best last night. I just kept waking up. Maybe I was stressed that we had to be out rather early. As I was getting my things around, I found out that someone took my shoes out of the drying box. That really upset me, because they were soaked from the rain yesterday and all I wanted were dry shoes. I wish hikers were more considerate of others. After packing our bags, we walked right across the street to the park to dry out our wet tents. There wasn¢t much room to do so at the hostel, so we set up a line in the park between a tree and a pole to a swing. As we were waiting for our tents to dry, I found out from Bandit thru-hiking used to be called Tramping, and in some places it is still called that. I thought that was interesting!We went to breakfast at a restaurant down the road. They had delicious French toast there! The two slices of bread sandwiched a piece of cheesecake. It was tasty! I got some eggs with bacon jam and beer bread. I tend to lean towards savory breakfasts! The food was extremely satisfying. The boys were still hungry once we left, so we walked to McDonald¢s so they could have lunch. Before we went to the breakfast joint, they had first breakfast at the Cumberland Farms gas station across the street. From McDonald¢s, we got a ride from Frosty (a former thru-hiker in 2021 that the boys met at the Brewery last night) to Walmart. He¢s also a civil engineer! We smooshed five of us hikers into his truck. It was fun! We purchased food and packed our bear cans on the picnic table outside. Once we were all set, Frosty drove me to Subway to get a sandwich for lunch and then dropped us back off at the trailhead. I finished by sandwich by the time we arrived, so he took my trash for me!! He was extremely kind and generous to drive us around and wait on us! He said that it happened to him all of the time on trail when he hiked. 0.1 miles into our hike, we hit 1900 MILES!!! I seriously cannot believe that I have walked 1900 miles. That¢s WILD!! And CRAZY!! My feet are screaming at me per usual. As we were on trail, we passed by some section hikers. They are almost done section hiking the entire AT!! They saw us in town and left us a six pack of Pepsi at the trail head near where they parked! So, not much longer we all got to enjoy some more trail magic! The soda was delicious!Then we got to walk uphill. Again. I¢m surprised I¢m not dead and that my legs can keep carrying me. Everyone is like ¢file your body.¢ Well,¢¦ I¢m pretty sure that no thru-hiked can fuel their body with the right foods. I told Moose Jaw today that I¢m going to make my sister a ramen bomb when I¢m done with trail to see if she likes it. A ramen bomb is ramen, instant potatoes, and packaged chicken. He said he thinks she would love it! In fact, he said she would thrive on trail food. Ramen, candy, chips, Little Debbie snacks, etc. She would be in Heaven. Minus the hiking and camping part. She would only like the food part. HA! Not only are we tired of steep inclines, but also mud. Which I just so happened to submerge one of my feet into about three miles in. I cried. And I told Moose Jaw that my foot looked ugly! I¢m not sure why I said that. But then I also cried because my shoes were dry and I just did laundry. Now I get to wear dirty, muddy, smelly socks for four days instead of just smelly socks. HA! I guess I¢m just tired. Bandit saved us a tent spot at camp. I was so thankful! As we were walking there, we ran into Iron Mike!! He did Moose¢s ¢bay signal¢ and howled ¢Mooooose!¢ It was awesome! We all laughed. We chatted for awhile before we headed to our camp spot. It¢s now getting cold! I rushed to put up our tent and hop in to put my warm sleep clothes on. I was lazy, so I cooked our dinner in our vestibule, while I sat on my mat. We had a ramen bomb and some Nutella afterwards. Dinner was yummy. As we were laying down getting cozy to fall asleep, Stogie texted us saying his backpack frame broke. Yikes! Looks like we will deal with that tomorrow! Today was a good day. I can¢t wait to get to Maine tomorrow!Funny Convo with Shelly about Trail (she summitted a week ago now):Me: ¢Are you happy to be done with trail? I can¢t wait. I¢m exhausted and hurting. lol¢Shelly: ¢SO HAPPY OMG F*CK THE TRAIL I HATE IT. People who say they don¢t hate it are lying or mentally unhealthy¢this year has been brutal according to everyone. Nxt time you¢re at a hostel ask the owner.¢