Date: 2014-05-11
From: Kincora Hostel

To: a spring
Miles today: 15.0
Weather: few clouds

AT day 36 SundayHappy Mothers Day! I was glad I had a signal to call our moms today! I hope the rest of the moms we know had a great day! I left after the boys this morning. So I got to call both of my moms while sitting in front of a gorgeous waterfall where I randomly had a cell signal! It was pretty treacherous getting down to it with tons of loose rocks and steep downhill but it was totally worth it! Luckily, Kinetic was sitting there and mentioned he had cell service! Not long after I arrived Medic and Lt Dan got there too. I was glad they all were there because I had inadvertently lost the trail in my haste to get to the falls! They pointed me in the right direction and I started off. Kinetic caught up with my quickly. He's a fast walker, so I let him pass before we headed up our biggest climb of the day. I hate slowing people down! Lt Dan was right behind him, so I had him pass me too. But we ended up walking at about the same pace, so we were chatting which was awesome! Not long after Medic caught up too and the three of us tackled the mountain together. It was full of switchbacks, but long. About three miles up before immediately heading three miles down. I was so glad to have company! Both guys are very nice and conversation flowed easily. Although, I think I ended up talking the most (This is what happens when I get to hike with people who talk). Hopefully, they'll let me walk with them another time! We met up with the rest of our groups at the lake where we all stopped for lunch. The lake was beautiful but silty so only Jon jumped in. I would have loved to, but I didn't want to take the chance of getting chaffed or, god forbid, put wet feet back in my socks! So I opted to just enjoy the sun and green grass!The last half of the day, I hiked with the Slay boys and David. There were a lot of steep uphill climbs and we were all feeling beat by the end of it. The cool thing though is that we climbed right next to the lake, so we got amazing views the whole way up! We also had to walk up a very steep road after the dam where we learned walking without trekking poles is hard! My favorite quote was, "walking without your hands is really hard".We had done over 15 miles when we came to a spring and decided to stop for the night. There weren't many flat spots to set up tents for Kent and I but we made do on the slants. Dave brought a hammock, so he was happy to find a couple trees he could hang from. Jon will cowboy camp, I'm sure. I made dinner and ate quickly then crawled into my tent. I needed to lay down and rest my legs. They are so incredibly tired and sore, all I can think of is our day off coming up on Wednesday! I guess the guys said they were feeling the hills today too so I don't feel like a huge wimp! Poor Dave got thrown right into a big and hardish day right away. He's a trooper though and kept right up with Jon. We have about 35 miles before we get to Damascus where we will get to see Jon's cousins Rachel and Ryan! They are coming up to see us! We also have a care package waiting from Jon's Aunt Kathy and our friend Lisa (I love getting mail)! Those two things have been motivating me over the past week! Trail Days will be going on this week too, so we will stay for some of the festivities and take care of some housekeeping items like getting shoes; having our trekking poles rejuvenated and hopefully get to rest our legs finally!Once again, trail life is good!