Date: 2018-05-27
From: Grassy Ridge Road

To: Tent site @MM 498.8
Miles today: 13.9

Up at 6am today to those lovely breakfast smells at the hostel.  I ate quickly and readied my pack for 4 more nights and 5 days of trail.  I filled my water bottles and put it on the scale.  36.5 pounds.  That¢s not too bad with all of my food and 2 liters of water.  By 7:30am we were ready to go.  Woodchuck pulled his van around to get us loaded up.  The rain had started about an hour before, but miraculously it quit.  We all said a sad goodbye to Lorax, and we were off.  Our journey started Up, soon we found ourselves looking at the most beautiful pine forest.  I wouldn¢t want to guess how tall they were, but they were the tallest pines I¢ve ever seen!  A short distance after the pines we came to a grassy hill and pasture.  I was hearing some moo¢s for a while, then all the sudden right there was a herd of momma cows and their babies.  I took lots of pictures.  The cutest things ever!  The REAL up started right after those cute  little cows. I think it was about 3.7 miles of UP to Buzzard Rock at 5087ft elevation.  The views there were amazing.  Today¢s photo is of me standing on a Buzzard Rock.  The hike down from there was a little rocky. I hiked alone most of the way.  At 1:10pm I heard thunder.  We had enjoyed exactly 5 hours of great hiking weather, before the rains came.  Yes my shoes were soaked again today.  Pruney hands and pruney feet!  It has rained so much more than I ever expected.  Just as I was trying to cheer myself up, I came to a clearing near a road to find TRAIL MAGIC!!!  This is a family who has lost two thru-hikers, and they are paying it forward in their memory.  This was so far the best trail magic I¢ve had.  Fresh fruit, a vegetable salsa that was to die for!  Pop, chips, cupcakes, hotdogs and more.  They took trash, charged phones, and provided an awning to protect us from the rain. They have no idea how grateful all of us were.  I¢m sure their loved ones were smiling down today. From there it was another up over a large grassy hill through another pasture with more cows.  No babies this time.  They stood right on the trail.  I made sure they were all girls before I walked by. Bulls scare me! Soon I was back in the woods with only 3 or 4 miles until the shelter.  That¢s when another miracle happened.  The rain stopped!  Hallelujah!  I came upon a pasture off to the right of the forest/trail and the view was amazing so I walked over there.  Glad I did!  Right there was a small group of wild horses.  I didn¢t know they were wild until after the fact.  Big Kahuna  and Hugs appeared on the other side so I walked right through the horses to get to them.  It was funny because they started licking our legs like a salt block.  We really enjoyed them!  Nonetheless, had I known they were wild I would have chosen a different path.  We were only 1.1 miles from the shelter.  It was more UP.  Lots of rocks today too.  The shelter was packed with the younger crowd so we hiked on about 1/4 mile and pitched our tents.  We invited Kiwi to join us.  She¢s a thru-hiker from New Zealand. The scene at the shelter wasn¢t her thing either.  Big Kahuna now has 3 girls to look out for!  There¢s been a bear problem in this area so they¢ve put up temporary electric fence around bear boxes for our food.  Big Kahuna took all of our food and put it up for us.  Chivalry lives on in Big Kahuna.  The rain has started again....Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?