Date: 2019-05-13
From: Boots Off Hostel

To: Boots Off Hostel
Miles today: 6.7
Weather: light rain

Short slackpack!! Today I got out late, but didn¢t have far to go. It was free for them to take me back to the trail and it wasn¢t far. I had breakfast, which was bananas, donuts, and cereal. I headed out around 1pm. I convinced another man to join me and he had gotten off from the blue-blaze yesterday too. His knee was hurting though so he couldn¢t go fast. We headed out together, but I passed him on the uphill. I saw some other folks I had met before on the way up. It was a long up. Even without pack, I was annoyed at how long it took. There were several false summits and campsites, and finally it ended. No view of course though. One of the hostel owners said the trail originally went on the blue-blaze to town, but that someone rerouted it over this stupid mountain because why not. Lol classic, reroute the trail over this super long annoying mountain with no view. The downhill was good though and I was making great time. I walked out of the trail and spotted the hostel, which isn¢t far. I walked to it and they were all shocked I made it back so early. They had named me ¢procrastinator¢ that morning and fine, I deserve that lol. I¢ve been getting out so late. But I made great time! Late but fast! Haha. I finished 7 miles in 2 hours. It felt awesome. I decided to go down to the lake, as there is water right by the hostel. But it was quite cold, so I figured I¢d just put my feet in. There was a group of guys called Riff Raff and they¢re all kind of vulgar and rude partiers. The hostel owners were warning me about them. I kept my distance and 25-Mile and Wes were there, so I put my feet in and so did Wes, and we chatted. It was so cold. They headed back up to the hostel and I left a few minutes later. I put goofy town clothes on (fuzzy pajama pants and a flannel that did not match) and gave them my laundry and we planned the slackpack.We went on the dinner run again and this time I got bagel bites and Totino¢s pizza rolls. I heated them up when we got back and we finalized the slackpack plan. Boots Off will take you 21 miles away and you can hike back to their hostel southbound, and then the next day they¢ll take you back to that spot and drop your pack off in Damascus, and you just hike northbound into Damascus. I was a little annoyed about going southbound. If you¢re like that on the trail people call you a purist. I mean I tend to not like to skip blazes or hitch ahead or go the wrong way. I¢ll let it slip if it¢s a mile or so that I¢ve missed, but for the most part I¢ve hiked the whole trail with no skipping or shortcuts. And the southbound from this drop-off point was all downhill, which means it¢s easier than the northbound, and to be a real ¢nobo¢ you¢d be skipping a big climb and that felt off to me. Hiker Dan felt the same way and we both asked if there was a way to hike northbound. I was also trying to pace myself with Prometheus and Hot Sauce and didn¢t want to get to Damascus too early. The owners said they could take my stuff in a trash bag to a hostel that was near the road 21 miles away, and that I could slackpack up to that hostel. I thought it was nice that they were working with me instead of screwing over another hostel just to get another night¢s stay from me. Hiker Dan and I liked that plan. We weren¢t sure if we¢d slackpack the rest of the mileage to Damascus, but this would at least be one day of slackpacking and the right direction. And for me, if my friends were doing 10-mile days, I wouldn¢t be too far ahead. The owners are goofy though and just like they gave me shit for procrastinating, they gave us shit for wanting to go northbound, so they wrote down ¢stupid people going opposite direction¢ and we put our names below that. Haha we were now the stupid people and it was pretty funny. ¢Stupid procrastinator¢ became a new temporary trail name. Haha.I ate my dinner and some more ice cream and my clean laundry was ready. I folded it up and spent time chatting with everyone. The man that slackpacked with me today said I was a ¢fucking beast¢ and it felt good. I do feel the change in my pace and it is making me happy. I love that my trail legs seem to be here! Someone had been kicked out of Riff Raff and was describing that, and everyone else was talking about the murder. It was on everyone¢s mind. We still didn¢t know names, but we knew a man officially died and that the girl was in the hospital. We were all still processing it, but it was nice to have the company to process through it together. I took a late shower because I thought I¢d get warm water if it was later. I was partly right and got some warm water, but it got cold quickly and I still didn¢t get my hot shower. I put on my clean clothes and went to bed. I still had to organize all my stuff, but I¢d do that in the morning. Little Debbie