Date: 2019-04-06
From: Winding Stair Gap/Franklin

To: Wayah Bald Shelter
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: clear sky

On today¢s episode of ¢Diana hates bearbagging¢... haha. I was back in the woods today! I woke up so unbelievably comfy in that memory foam mattress and decided to take another shower to feel extra clean. I made sure everything was packed away and clean and headed over to the hostel. Zen drove a bunch of us up to Winding Stair Gap and I shared the front seat with another girl, Lexi. Once we arrived, everyone took off and started hiking. I had skipped breakfast, so I sat down to eat before starting my hike. Zen sat with me and read some Buddhist book with quotes like ¢your feelings. Throw them away.¢ I¢d have a hard time with that book. I have a lot of feelings and they don¢t get thrown away lol. I¢m an expert at hiding them until I explode, but I¢ve gotten better about opening up and expressing my opinions and thoughts about everything. Progress! Just after I finished eating, a woman showed up, handed me money, and left! My first trail magic on the AT! That was so nice of her! Her name was Willow. After that, a whole family came by with their truck and set up tables and a grill. They made hot dogs and had a bunch of snacks. Unfortunately, I had just eaten, but I had a hot dog and chatted with them. The man grilling is a grandpa and he hiked the AT last year! An awesome man. They were all so nice. There was a couple with a little toddler, the grandson, and he was just adorable. He kept putting a whoopie cushion on everyone¢s chairs and giggling. What amazing trail magic! I was so thankful. Also, Houston, we have HUNGER!! Ahhh!! Today I ate three meals with snacks and plenty of water! I was hungry!! Finally! I wanted to eat all of my food! I finally left the trail magic setup to start hiking, as it was getting late to start my day. I met a couple from Pittsburgh at the trail magic, and they started hiking at the same time as me. Incredibly friendly people! I can¢t quite imagine hiking with a boyfriend because my personal hike is to find and challenge myself, but hike your own hike! I guess their relationship will really stand the tests! The hiking today involved a lot of slow uphill, which I am not a fan of haha. But it was a beautiful day. It was so warm! I had to stop and put on sunscreen and take off my layers. After a while, I reached this clearing that was a ¢Bald¢ or grassy hill. I took my pack off and walked up. It was an awesome 360 view, but there were a lot of people and it was hard to get pictures without people in them. I walked down and ate lunch at the bottom of the grassy hill. I ate so much! Yay! Full of food and happy, I headed off. I stopped at a stream for a water refill and saw that guy from Kentucky, Damon, and his dog, Riley. I kept going and stopped again midway through a rough uphill. More trail magic! OMG! Someone left a bunch of bottled water there, so I took one and drank it empty right then and there! It was a hot day today. I¢m glad I hydrated. It felt like a long way up to Wayah Bald, and I ran into that couple from Pittsburgh a few times, as well as a man named Robinhood. Because I had gotten started late with the trail magic, I was hiking pretty late into the day. When I got up to Wayah Bald, it was already 6pm! That view though. Wow. It actually took my breath away. And taking off my pack, that always sends me flying every which way. Wobble wobble wobble haha it¢s the best feeling though. There was a tower at Wayah Bald, but you didn¢t even need it for a good view. I walked up it anyway and just sat there. It was so peaceful and beautiful. This is what it¢s all about! I live for these views. It¢s actually one of my favorite things when I travel. I always want to go up in the towers or lookouts. It¢s just wonderful to be up so high and see so far. It just makes me so happy. And I do get scared of heights, especially with that shaky metal fire tower the other day, but it¢s so worth it for the view. The lovely couple from earlier arrived. The guy¢s name is Chad and the girl¢s is Lauren, but her trail name is Mountain Laurel. She¢s so nice and I¢m so glad I met them both! They headed down to the shelter and I followed, but it was getting late so I was quite anxious. It was all downhill to the shelter, but my pack was heavy from resupply and I was tired. I knew I¢d have to set up camp and hang my freaking bear bag and was not looking forward to doing that so late at night. It was past 7 when I arrived at camp. I set up my tent very quickly, I¢m getting good at this haha, but bearbagging was a real struggle. At this point I am starting to find my struggle comical, but last night I was not having it. I probably threw my rock bag 20 times, went and collected it, tried again, got a foot below the branch, got it tangled in other branches, broke branches, and finally got the stupid rope up in a branch that was definitely not high enough. Honestly I want to just be Katz from a ¢A Walk in the Woods¢ and just grab a bunch of chocolate bars and hop into my tent and call it a day. The bears can have it! Ugh. I cursed at the line of rope. One benefit of the woods, you can get mad with no one around! Haha. I remained calm though and got my rope up, and then went and ate. I was hungry so I ate a lot, but it was getting dark. There were some people from the hostel who were staying at that shelter. There was Polar Bear, Red Wiggler, Jeffrey (Ringer), Lexi, Johnny (the English guy from earlier on, I was so happy to see him! His name is now Honey Buns), and another girl I can¢t remember the name of. Ringer is the man! He¢s so freaking nice. I¢m not sure how old he is, but he seems parent-age. He¢s truly one of the nicest people I¢ve ever met. He saw my bearbagging struggle and came and helped me hang it. He taught me all the knots, but I forgot them. He told me he¢d practice with me again. Such a sweet man. I felt good and went to bed with one of my mini alcohol bottles as it started to rain. I passed out writing this journal haha so I¢m finishing it a day later. I did hang around the fire for a bit, but was quite wiped and it was already so late. I enjoyed today. Some moments of anxiety and frustration for sure, but incredible views and nice people. I didn¢t see my original trail family clan, but I was making new friends and was having to keep moving. Mentally I actually did just fine getting back out there. I was worried while eating the hot dog, surrounded by people and cars and civilization, but I really did just fine. My pack was heavier and I could feel that stress on my back, but it was a good stress because I had food I was excited about and I was clean and rested. And there was so much trail magic in one day and it was the first I had experienced; it was wonderful! Song of the day: ¢Timebomb¢ by Walk the Moon. Made me straight-up want to dance in the woods! Little Debbie