Date: 2012-04-09
From: Somewhere in the woods

To: Somewhere in the woods (again!)
Miles today: 10.1

Last night it got down into the upper 30¢s so it was cold getting out of our tents. We were on the trail by 9:00 am and started up the first of many hills. Today the trail goes up and down all day with very little flat sections. Bird Man left a little before us this morning and we ran into him along with another hiker half way up the first climb. We stayed and talked for a while and continued on to the top of the mountain. The trail went down a little then went back up again, the map showed one continuous up but in reality it was many small ups and downs that slowly gained elevation. We got to the first shelter and decided to stop for lunch and take a break; soon after Mouse showed up. Mouse started the trail on her 50th birthday on March 22; she has a deadline in which she has to finish the trail so she has to do a lot of miles each day. Right as we were about to leave Bird Man showed up so we stayed a little longer. Today was a down day for me, I did not sleep too well last night, my allergies are in full swing, my right ankle was giving me fits and all the downhill today was really taking its toll on my knees. I told Tortoise, Hare and Big Sky to go on ahead of me to the next road crossing because I was going slower and I just needed some alone time for a while. Its days like this that really get me thinking why I am doing this hike and I get to thinking that maybe I should just go home and say I had a good go at it. I also knew in the back of my head that the last four and a half miles was all uphill 1400 feet to the shelter we had planned on spending the night at and once I got to the road the uphill started so that slowed me down too. Once I got to the road, I meet up with the group and we decided to keep going up to the shelter. Just as we were to leave we saw 7 or 8 hikers walking down to the road to get back onto the trail. We asked them where they were coming from and they said when they got to the road there was a sign that said "Trail Magic .3 miles up the road" and that they were just coming back from it. They also said that they were done for the day but said we should go anyhow because they were some great people. So we decided to go up to their house to see if there was any more magic to go around. We walked up their driveway and knocked on their door and they said "Take your boots off and come on in". We did as we were told and they made us hot fudge brownie Sundays and banana splits! They had thru hiked in 1999 and moved right beside the trail to do trail magic. After downing my banana split, my spirits were really lifted and I was ready to continue on up the trail. They then invited us back in the morning for breakfast and said that there was a good place to camp along the trail only five minutes in. So we put our boots back on and got back on the trail and found the spot they had told us about and set up camp. About an hour after we were there, Bird Man showed up and we told him about breakfast and we didn¢t think they would mind another hiker for breakfast, so he dropped his gear right on the spot and set up camp as well. So now we are going to go eat breakfast tomorrow and do the big climb tomorrow and then after that the terrain gets a lot easier so we can make up the miles we did not do today and hopefully tomorrow will be a better day for me...at least I know the first part of the day will be great!