Date: 2014-05-10
From: bitter end

To: Kincora Hostel
Miles today: 11.0
Weather: light rain

AT day 35 SaturdayWaking up in a bed was fabulous! I sneaked in a quick shower and soaked my feet one more time. Then Kent and Nancy treated us to breakfast at Hardee's again! We could really get used to this! The Wilson's needed to drop a few things off at the Kincora Hostel, so we took complete advantage of being able to leave our packs there before heading back to the trail (as we were planning on staying at Kincora that night)! When we got there, we saw Osiris! It was sad not seeing him with his dad, Murray, who did finally have to get off the trail due to a torn ligament in his knee. But the great thing is that the Wilson's were doing their hiker feed north of Kincora so they offered to take his pack up so he could slack until he got there! The Wilson's brought us back to the place we started yesterday and we said goodbye. What a morale boost they were. I can't thank them enough. They are true trail angles! We are so lucky to have met them and will hopefully be able to pay them back someday!We started our hike in the sprinkling rain but it didn't bother us because we knew we had a dry place to sleep tonight (Even if it was a little shady. I'm a huge germaphobe so sleeping in dirty hostels is hard sometimes. We all took the "mattresses" off the plywood beds before setting up our stuff. They were a little sketchy).The ups and downs weren't too terrible! Of course everything feels easier when we aren't schlepping backpacks! And we only had a little over ten miles to do! The miles went by quickly. At one point though, a stick jammed into my toe and caused me to trip and fall. I landed on my hand and knee mostly. But I also caught some rocks on my hip. No fun. I got a little scraped up but nothing major. Thank goodness! We reached the road the hostel is on fairly quickly. As we got closer to the road, we saw a sign that said, "trail magic"! Dave was waiting for us in the hostel, so we went up to get him and change before we headed over to a different hostel so Dave could grab a few supplies. We weren't sure if the trail magic was really for that day or an old sign from before that didn't get removed. I didn't have high hopes. It turned out to be real! It was quite a spread! They had cold beverages, hot dogs, black bean burgers, fruit, chips, snickers and a bean salad (oh man- you can guess how the rest of the night went after that)! The folks putting on the feast were Jennifer, Jake and Rachel (who had hiked the AT in 2008). They were so nice and friendly! We ended up staying for a very long time visiting with them and enjoying chairs to sit in! It was another great surprise! Plus, it was exciting to bring Dave to a hiker feed! In fact, we came up with a trail name for him, Walker Texas Ranger! Perfect! Jake works in the medical field so I had him check out my feet. He said among the blisters and hot spots, I probably have some sort of fungal infection from my a waterproof shoes getting too sweaty throughout the day and not getting to breathe. Yay. Gross. But at least it gave me something to work with. I had already bought some athletes foot cream to try, just in case, so I was on the right track. He said to use that and air my feet out as much as possible. When we get to Damascus, I'll get my feet checked out again and probably get new breathable shoes and socks. Thank goodness it's nothing too serious! At least that part. I'm still pretty sure my toe is broken or getting there. When we got back to the hostel we got to meet Bob Peoples, the owner. He is such a sweet man. We chatted with him for a bit before I had to go to bed. We've had a few late nights and my hiker clock was letting me know. I went and laid down while the boys visited with the other hikers. Medic, Lt Dan and Kinetic were there as well as a few others we hadn't met before!I'd say it was another successful day!