Date: 2019-04-30
From: Little Laurel Shelter

To: Flint Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up at 5am to one of the 20-milers leaving. I don¢t even understand how you get to camp after 20 miles and then get up at 5am. My body is already screaming at me for getting up at 6:30 or 7. I fell back asleep and woke up for real around 7:30. I texted Prometheus. If he and Hot Sauce didn¢t go too far today, I could catch them. He took a while to respond to me. I sat and ate breakfast with Mama Squirrel and X. It was a nice bonding time. We were laughing about the climbs we¢d have to do today, including one called Big Butt Mountain. Mama Squirrel shook her butt and sang. She¢s so funny! She¢s a preschool teacher back home and got her name from a little puppet squirrel she¢d use for shy kids. She¢s definitely got sass and youth in her though and it¢s great to be around her. We all agreed we were headed to the shelter in 14 miles or so. Prometheus finally got back to me and said he was going to the one after that. I was not going to do a 20-mile day to catch him, so I just took my time and enjoyed the morning with Mama Squirrel and X. There were a few boys who came and ate with us. They had stealth-camped nearby, but ran out of water, so they couldn¢t cook breakfast and had to walk to the shelter and water source so they could eat. They knew the boys that had harassed X, and apparently the boys said ¢they annoyed her¢, but left out all the details of touching her or sexually harassing her. Good to know their side of the story was going around. *eye roll* X seemed to feel open and calm about it now and told them exactly what happened. It was disgusting to hear again and the boys realized how bad it really was. We¢re all on the lookout for the ones who did the harassing and are lying about it. Again, I¢m not naming names here and I do not want to report this, as it is not my story to tell, it¢s X¢s. It just consumed me to worry about this kind of threat on the trail. We all headed out. I passed Mama Squirrel and we were both not enjoying the uphill. There was more! It was all morning and it was hot out. There were a lot of nice views though and I took my time to look at all of them. I wanted to enjoy myself and really take in the trail. That¢s the point of this whole journey, not just pounding out 20-mile days to get to the next spot. I stopped at two cliffs, and the views were spectacular. There was a nice meadow view too, but that was far off trail. I shouldn¢t have gone to that one. Too much time off trail and not worth the view. After looking at all of them, I found Mama Squirrel again. She was surprised I was behind her. I said I stopped at all the views and we hiked together for a bit. It had leveled out, but there was a pretty rocky ridge to get through still. I love Mama Squirrel, but she isn¢t the fastest. Staying with her was nice, but I was losing time too. I¢ve made this mistake in the past sometimes. I remember one cross country race in high school where I literally ran slowly the whole race to stay with a friend and I got a terrible time. When I actually ran for myself in later races, I did well. I¢m not a fast runner at all, but I¢m not bad when I push myself. I stayed with her through the whole ridge because I wanted to chat and knew she needed a buddy. It was quite rocky and sometimes treacherous. We reached the top of the mountain and the view was wonderful. Mama Squirrel took a video of us celebrating. We walked on and she fell. I helped her up and she said she was fine, but it looked like it hurt. She thanked me for staying with her and said she would¢ve had a really rough time on the ridge without me. That made me feel better for slowing down to hike with her. We started to descend and were anticipating the 300-mile mark. It felt like forever, but we finally reached it! Someone had made a little 300 out of stones on the side of the trail. We took our packs off and took pictures of each other with the sign. I was so happy to reach another little milestone. The little accomplishments really feel good on the trail. I decided it was time to go ahead of Mama Squirrel, so I said I¢d see her in a bit. It was mostly downhill or flat, but it had some uphill too for the next portion until a shelter. This was the shelter Prometheus and Hot Sauce stayed at last night. I desperately needed water. There was none on the ridge, and Prometheus had warned me, but I still drank all my water because the climbing was rough and I was thirsty. I filled up and saw X and the boys from this morning! We were all heading on for a little bit. We started to climb and it was leading to Big Butt Mountain. I had not eaten enough food, as my stomach was still not back to normal. But I was running on adrenaline. I got up to the top of the mountain before I knew it and the boys were taking pictures with the Big Butt Bypass sign. There were so many jokes to be had. ¢Why would you bypass the big butt?¢ ¢I mounted the big butt¢. ¢What a pain in the butt¢. I apologize for being crass, but it was kind of funny. Who decided to name this mountain? I have questions. Apparently there is a ¢swinging dick gap¢ on the trail. Sadly I missed that. Haha. Drunk red necks, I tell ya. The boys were wondering if we had to summit the other ¢cheek¢. I was cracking up. They took my picture. I guess I missed them mooning for their pictures. I did not want to moon for mine, although I do have somewhat of a big butt. I¢m not THAT comfortable with strangers out here lol. There was a rocky summit to the Big Butt, which I guess explains the bypass trail. After the summit, there was a grassy field (maybe cheek number two? Unclear). The boys decided to camp there for the night. I decided to keep going. It was getting dark and I really hate hiking as it gets dark, but I wanted to get to the shelter and I wanted to see Prometheus. He had ended up staying at the next shelter and texted me about it. It was mostly downhill, with some little ups. I passed a mass grave site, but didn¢t want to venture over there. It was taking a while to descend, but I finally made it to the gap right before the shelter. I checked on my phone to make sure and I headed on. I found someone along the way and he said, ¢you made it! The shelter¢s right down there!¢ I was so pumped. I arrived and X was there and Prometheus! It was so great to see him. There was another man, Rev, who I¢m quite fond of. He reminds me a lot of my old boyfriend¢s dad, one of the sweetest men in the world. He has a smile that just makes you feel safe and warm and loved. Rev is like that fatherly figure and he is taking his time and going the same pace as me. Rev, X, Prometheus, and the section hiker, Whistles (or sock monkey man?! idk), and I sat around the fire (Prometheus made it, shock). I made dinner, but couldn¢t finish it, so Prometheus did. He¢s been rationing his meals anyway so he was pretty hungry. I gave him the meals I had collected for him so he was set on food. I set up in the shelter next to him. Hot Sauce was not with us here. Prometheus had hurt his foot and that¢s why he stopped here, but Hot Sauce did not want to stop for the day and continued on. There was some tension between them about planning and mileage, but I wasn¢t really involved. I was happy to be with a familiar face, but I did worry about Hot Sauce and hoped she was okay wherever she was for the night. I got in my sleeping bag and saw a huge wolf spider on the wall. Prometheus killed it, thank goodness. That thing was freakishly big. I actually found one on myself the other day. I complained here about walking through webs. Well I walked through one with an actual wolf spider the other day and flicked that thing off myself so quickly. They¢re so scary. Ugh. Mom, please come kill it! Prometheus and I shared headphones and listened to music for a bit. I stayed up too late yet again. It¢s fun to have these times with him, but I do need to be disciplined about sleep too. Today was rough, but I felt good about the mileage and tough climbs of the day. I worried about Hot Sauce and Mama Squirrel. I was happy to be with X and Rev and Prometheus. I met another woman here who lost her big toe toenails early on in her trip and had to come off trail to let them heal. She started February 16. She had such strength to come back here after weeks off trail. That would be so hard for me. She also experienced some of the worst weather in March before I came on trail and all of those factors would¢ve made it hard for me to come back. But she was lovely to talk to and her name was Guiding Light. She¢s a special woman and that determination is admirable. Hopefully I get some sleep tonight! Little Debbie