Date: 2007-05-13
From: Laurel Fork

To: Dennis Cove Road, Kincora
Miles today: 11.4

May 13, Mudder's DayWoke up at 6:16 a.m. to 48.6 degreesin my tent. I slept well last night. I got up and got ready and got on the trail at 7:45. The hiking was nice this morning. Lots of streams, lots of rhododendron, lots of green. Sound familiar? The terrain has gotten much more forgiving in the last two days, which I appreciate. I stopped by a stream to wait for Certain so we could hike the next 0.6 to the 400 mile mark together. We got there quickly and celebrated with a simple toast - to our moms. I was glad to have made it 400 miles. We made a marking out of dying rhododendron leaves and took lots of photos. Good times. We both tried to call our moms with no luck.I pressed on and stopped for lunch and water at Moreland Gap Shelter. I met Milk there, nice gal. The past couple of days, we've been running into a great group over and over - Sara and Josh, Fuzzy Monkey, Flaxseed, QuickToez, Hiccup and Yellow Snowman. Nice people, nice times.The rest of the hiking today went well. I appreciated it not being unreasonably hard and it really was very pretty. I hiked all day in my Crocs to let my heels breathe after the number my new shoes did on them. I enjoyed the Croc walking - actually pretty comfortable. If my insoles fit in them, I might seriously consider using them more often for hiking. My feet weren't terribly tired at the end of the day like they usually are.I hiked a while with Jon today and we talked a lot about traveling in Europe. He lived there for a while in his military days. Nice guy.We got to Dennis Cove Road a little before 3 p.m. and got to Kincora Hostel by 3. It's pretty nice here, my first hostel stay (sort of, I'm actually tenting) on the trail. It's a do-it-yourself type place that runs on a suggested donation of $4. Wow. Free shuttle to town for resupply too. I got everything done today and we'll head out tomorrow. My resupply will be interesting...I had to shop fast and I couldn't find anything. I spent $10 on beef jerky which is completely absurd but it was the one thing I was craving on this last stretch. Everything I ate these last five days was sweet - everything. This stretch, I wanted salt. Mmm.Anyway, by 9 p.m. all of my town chores were accomplished. I sat and chatted with Fuzzy Monkey, Josh and Sara, and Yellow Snowman and Hiccup for a while before heading in my tent. I'm really enjoying these fine folks. I'd love to catch up with Not Guilty and Sailor soon but it might be a while, I don't think either of them are headed to Trail Days.Well, it was a good day and it feels good to be clean and in clean clothes. I am exhausted. - Sound of wind, someone's footsteps outside my tent, a tent zipper, the rustling of things inside a tent, the murmur or voices from inside the hostel. Post Trail Thoughts:So it's funny to me that I met Melk today and called her Milk. And I remember when she told me her name, I responded by saying, "Milk?" She was very gracious and said, "yeah, Melk". Haha - I got to laugh a lot as I hiked with later and this same conversation repeated itself with others. This was also the first time I met J.B. He was making a stink about laundry at the hostel and I thought - who's this guy? But later I realized it was all part of his humor!