Date: 2006-10-02
To: Conclusion - 2 of 3
Miles today: 0.0

Trail Magic gives you strength, lifts your spirits. The generosity of these Trail Angels is much appreciated by tired, hungry, and thirsty hikers. On my first day, I found the Gates of Heaven II Trail Magic provided by Mac & Cheese. They had left two coolers. One with ice and cold pop, lemonade, beer, water, cheese and another with dry goods such as chips, licorice, camp fuel, insect repellent, toilet paper etc.   Trail Magic on the AT is so appreciated. During extreme hot summer conditions, Trail Angels will leave jugs of water to be found near the trail. These are so appreciated, especially when you are down to your last bottle. How would they know when you are running on empty?On my 11th day, the Toons ¢ Dave & Noel ¢ had set up Trail MagicThey had wheeled in a BBQ and a cart full of Trail Magic from their stationery camp about a km away. Their son had thru hiked in 2004. This was their final day of a week of providing Trail Magic.They had spent a week of their vacation dispensing Trail Magic.On my 19th day, a SOBO ¢ south bounder - informed us of Trail Magic about 5 km away. This was on Sunday about 14:30. It would take at least 2 hours to hike and surely the Trail Angels would have packed up by that time. 14:30 is too early to stop and if you cover those 5 km today, that would be 5 km less tomorrow! Decision made, we raced down the trail at a pace restrained only by bouncing packs. The distance was covered in a hour and half! We were rewarded by Trail Magic set up by Green Lantern and Short-job. They had been set up all day and were just preparing to leave. . Green Lantern had been on the AT in Georgia earlier in the year and Short-job had completed the AT in sections over several years. They had met only through a local hiking club and had decided to do Trail Magic earlier that month. Trail Angels know their efforts are truly appreciated!Hikers on the AT have trail names. This helps to break the ice on first encounters, but then requires extra effort to find out their actual names. Then again, on the AT, we have left the other world behind. Lightning Bolt was a section hiker who had thru hiked in 2002. Lightning Bolt is an electrician from Brooklyn and had vivid memories of 9-11, as he had been only 8 blocks from ground zero. Trickster and What!? had just got married in April, 2 days before starting the AT. They had met as counsellors at an outdoor wilderness camp for troubled youth and had both attempted separate thru hikes of the AT in previous years. What!? was named by Trickster as she claimed he had selective hearing, and would be constantly replying What!?. Old Drum, a Missourian, was named after the statue of Old Drum in his town of Warrensburg. Old Drum was the faithful dog from which the phrase man¢s best friend was derived. Old Drum had picked up Lyme disease, and was just completing his antibiotic treatments over 2 weeks. It takes a real trooper to continue hiking the AT after coming down with Lyme disease. Several of the hikers I met 6 weeks ago, have their journals on the web, and are completing their summit of Mt Kathadin, the first week of October. Their journals before I met them and after I have met them are fascinating.