Date: 2019-05-21
To: Lost Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 9.1
Weather: scattered clouds

Today I woke up at a reasonable time; there were still five or six tents up. Some people were gone, and Data was all packed up when I walked out of my tent. I got going quickly because I wanted to get service and meet Rach! I went to the bathroom pretty close off the trail, oops! I thought I had walked so far, but I could see everyone. We¢re doing the wave and squat this morning I guess! Nothing to see here! Haha. I packed up and headed on. It was all uphill to the shelter I had considered last night. The shelter was off trail, so I didn¢t go to it. I did get service after doing some of the uphill, so I called Rach and we were set for Beartree Gap. We planned on arriving at the same time, but I was moving a bit slowly. At least we had a plan! I listened to some podcasts this morning. I¢ve had some great recommendations from friends back home, and I was listening to some from This American Life and The Moth. When I had people to hike with, I wasn¢t really listening to anything, but now that I was on my own, music wouldn¢t cut it anymore. I love these podcasts. Honestly it made a world of difference to listen to them. I was chuckling along to a podcast about being fat, something I¢ve believed I am for a long time. It was very entertaining and uplifting and the time just flew by. I listened to a sad podcast about loss too. Both captured my attention and I was happy to have some mental stimulation being on my own again. I came to Beartree Gap and the trail to the road was .3. I was late and I felt horrible, but I knew I couldn¢t have hiked much faster. I could¢ve gotten up earlier. In the end it all worked out! Rach and JP were there! I was so excited to see them!! JP got out his phone to video me walking out of the woods and Rach was laughing because they had clearly planned to get the video of me and now they had to execute the plan. I was covered in sweat, but I hugged them both and was so elated. Rach has been my bestie since high school; I love her to pieces. Her boyfriend JP is amazing and such a joy to be around. They both make me so happy! They told me Damascus was 15 minutes away, which made me want to cry considering I had done two days of hiking out of Damascus and it was 15 minutes by car. We headed into town for lunch. We decided to go to the Wicked Chicken. I joked with them that I was a local now because I spent so long in Damascus, walking up and down the main drive too many times to count. But I had not been to this place yet. It was delicious! I got boneless (of course) wings and curly fries and a soda. I told them they¢re my fave couple to third wheel. Haha they¢re both my buddies and I know I¢m not a third wheel, but it was kinda funny because they shared everything they ordered, and I¢m sitting here with wings and fries all to myself. Hey, it pays to be single. I get all the food! My lovely friends paid for my lunch. I had no idea they were planning on that and I had gotten my wallet out to pay. It was such a treat and I¢m so thankful. Trail magic and a hitch from my buddies! They supposedly had great ice cream here, but Trail Days totally wiped them clean. They had 4 out of 22 flavors left, and they were all some version of vanilla. Yeah no. We needed to get going anyway though. Rach and JP were going to meet her cousins on the opposite end of Virginia. I laughed because it would take them five hours, and for me more like five weeks. I took advantage of the service though and charged my phone throughout lunch, and that¢s when I saw the blog comment that made me angry. I figured it would¢ve been better to have no service at that point, but I was updated and charged up and we headed out. They dropped me back off at Beartree Gap. It was such a nice visit and the best treat after hiking alone out of Damascus. By the way, my buddies Wobbles and Thunder Buddy had gone ahead one of the days in Damascus, so they were already 10 miles out. It wouldn¢t have been too hard to catch them, but with my Nero and just feeling sluggish, I didn¢t. I was okay with that and knew they wouldn¢t be too far ahead.I gave Rach my shirt that I couldn¢t send in my boxes home. It occurred to me that I could hop in their car and make my way all the way to CT in a few days. Ahh so tempting. But I was here and wanted to be here. Slowest way to go home, but I¢ll get there eventually! They had a fun day planned in Hershey and I was excited for them. We said goodbye and I walked back into the woods! I decided I¢d go five more miles or so to the next shelter. I put in another podcast about women and speaking up, which was nice. I passed by more of the Creeper Trail. It really was pretty and I was kicking myself for not blue-blazing to have that nice walk along the water. But I guess my purist ways will continue for now! The AT was quite boring today. It had a fair amount of uphill, but it was just the same up and down in the woods. Yesterday I had passed by some water and nice bridges and today I passed those as well, but otherwise it was all pretty boring. I got to the shelter in good time. I found a really flat spot for my tent and claimed it. There were a ton of people there. I was thinking I had missed the bubble, so I was confused. But it turned out to be a philosophy class and they were out here section hiking for a week or so. I thought it was a cult haha because some man was preaching over the campfire, but now it made sense. That would be a cool class to take! Everyone else was section hiking or thru-hiking. I wasn¢t feeling particularly social because I wanted some space to process and that¢s when I wrote about yesterday and the comment. I was sitting on my sit pad against the tree. And I had indeed gone and hung my bear bag line (my best hang yet) and hung a clothes line for my sweaty clothes and gotten water. I felt good and independent and strong. I saw Mama¢s Boy! His name is now Danran. He was super friendly. I also met a thru-hiker named Strider and two section hikers, as well as a man named Rover, who got his name from singing a song about a dog named Rover.I was having trouble finishing my Mountain House tonight, so I sat with them for a while and slowly ate it. I finally went to bed. The class was up late and a bit rowdy, but I didn¢t mind too much and fell asleep. I had a fair amount of bug bites and I didn¢t realize how many until I woke up itching. It was uncomfortable, but I eventually fell back asleep.Little Debbie