Date: 2012-05-08
From: Moreland Gap Shelter

To: Black Bear Hostel
Miles today: 6.0

Slept really well last night, like best I have this whole time. I only woke up 3 times and the first was at 3am. Macl cried when I made him go to bed last night, he was loving the attention and sticks from all the other hikers. In the morning, I let him out of the tent thinking we were the only ones up. He sprinted off into the woods and started barking like crazy. I followed him down and found him 5 feet away from a hiker in the crouching tiger position with toilet paper in his hand. He calmly put down his toilet paper and threw sticks to Mackie while he finished what he was doing. It was so embarassing!! I thanked him profusely for being so understanding as his face reddened and he pulled his pants up. It took me a while to pack up, everything was wet and Cackles had come in late so I talked to her for a while. I walked with her for a while and decided to check out the hostel with her. We came to a road where we could go to Kinkora or Standing Bear. We just stood in the street with out mouths open unable to make a decision. I looked up and my muddy, disgusting dog was shifting his weight to jump into the open door or a clean parked car. I screamed, "Nooooo!" and the car owner cracked up laughing. He intoduced himself as Bojangles, a former thru hiker. He tossed Mack sticks and we sat down and chatted for a while. He encouraged us to go to Black Bear, because they would let dogs stay. We still weren't sold on staying overnight since we had only done 6 miles. We got to the hostel and found that most of the people I enjoy hiking with were staying there. They showed us a cabin that was super clean and cozy looking and I was sold. Just had to convince Cackles to split it with me. Our friends took care of that when they gave her a beer, SOLD! We ordered delivery BBQ for dinner and again Mack ate only people food. I'm thinking he's a little spoiled from all the TLC at Lauries!! His barking was out of control and the hostel owners must have been growing annoyed because they offered me a collar they use on their dogs. It sprays Citronella in the dog's face every time they bark. I loved it! Mack freaked out every time it sprayed, but he understood it eventually and we all finally got some peace and quiet.I'm starting to get really excited about going home. It just seems attractive to me to go somewhere where no one knows who you are or what you're doing. Everyone on the trail knows everyone else. It's way different then what I am used to. I'm also usually the weird one, since no one I know does things like thru hike. Out here, I'm just another thru hiker. I'm actually one of the least adventurous thru hikers. Everyone talks about what they're going to do after the trail, they talk about Asia and India, all these places they want to go. I just want to live my life, work, maybe grow some vegetables and spend some time outside. I don't have all these crazy adventures planned, this is my adventure. That seems weird to a lot of other thru hikers and sometimes it feels like I get a lot of judgement for saying that I enjoyed my old life. I'm also noticing that I'm the only one who doesn't want to drink and party all the time. I was the only one in bed at 8:00 (hiker midnight) tonight. Everyone else wanted to hang out and drink. I just wanted some alone time to write and read my book.