Date: 2019-04-10
From: Stealth Camp

To: Stealth Camping around 258.3
Miles today: 13.3
Weather: clear sky

I remembered this morning some things I meant to talk about yesterday.  Two days and a bit farther north has taken me into a world where the trees are budding. The skeletal forest is starting to go green. More and more flowers are blooming. It¢s a lovely time to be on the AT.Also, when I got on the trail yesterday afternoon I noticed that there were pine trees mixed in. And pine needles on the trail. The forest took on a whole new smell. As I¢ve gone up higher in elevation I¢m not seeing the pine trees anymore but hopefully I will as the week progresses.  I didn¢t sleep well last night and had a dream that an enormous bear was stomping around outside my tent. And in my dream I couldn¢t move. Waking up from that had the heart racing.  I formally got up at 6:50, did the morning duties, including a hot breakfast, and was on the trail by 7:50.  My chafed legs continue to improve and I had no pain today. I am continuing to use the A&D ointment I got from Kay Kay.  There was a lot of up and down today. My fatigue seemed better and knowing that I had a long day ahead of me allowed me to pace myself. I took a 30 minute lunch break. I stopped and read for 20 minutes among a sea of white flowers (more later). I stopped atop Max Patch Mountain and just laid in the sun. And I saw a lot of people. It turns out that many thru hikers had stayed at a hostel near where I started yesterday and they caught up to me midday. I¢d gone 8 miles and they¢d gone 11. I met lots of interesting folks.  There was ET, extraterrestrial turtle. There was Pocket Pussy. Who was hiking with his cat. Yes his cat. The cat was gorgeous and spends the day in PP¢s front pocket. He was the guy who went by while I was having dinner last night.  There was Rick Flair, who had hair like the professional wrestler. He was from North Carolina but had no intention of stopping by the homestead. There was Granite, a young woman from the White Mountains of New Hampshire. The AT passed close to her home.  And I¢ve forgotten a lot of the other folks I met. I walked through some beautiful places. Spring is definitely here. And moving up in elevation. For over a mile there was a sea of small white flowers blooming. It looked like snow on the ground but was flowers. It was amazing. Mid afternoon, after a long walk uphill, I came across my first Trail Magic. A retired couple were cooking and serving hamburgers and hotdogs and sodas and chips and fruit and Oreo cookies. A lot of the thru hikers who¢d passed me were milling about the Trail Magic when I arrived. While there i had a cheeseburger, a hot dog, two bags of Cheetos, an orange, a Mountain Dew, and a couple bottles of water.  I never did hear there names but the husband said he was in Witness Protection (don¢t think he was serious) and the wife was a retired school teacher. They had a sign up sheet, took our pictures, and listened to our stories. It was a lovely act of kindness. Oh and I saw Double Stuffed again at the Trail Magic. I got to the Roaring Fork Shelter at 4:00 but didn¢t like it. It was humid, with no breeze, and no cell service. I¢d done 12 miles at that point but continued on as the terrain was pretty flat.  1.3 miles further down the trail I found a reasonably flat place that was next to a creek, had a breeze, wasn¢t humid, and which had a cell signal. I stopped there for the day. Camp is set up, Bear line hung (it took me a long time to get the bear line hung today), dinner made and eaten. And I¢ll be in the tent by 7:15 for the night.  Steps: 39,500Floors: 308 (a lot of ups today)Total Miles: 80.6 miles