Date: 2007-04-29
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: broken clouds

April 29, MagicI didn't really want to get up today. I had to force myself up at 1:20 a.m. to take some ibuprofen - my knees and feet were still hurting bad. But, I got up at 7:14 a.m. and it was 46.8 degrees in my tent. Most everyone here was already up and at 'em getting ready to hit the trail. We are usually some of the last ones to leave but I don't mind it, gives us the space to cook and do our things. I think we are going to be at a lot of shelters this week with the way the trail was designed and that's my general feeling about it - let everyone do their things and then get moving. We are running into a lot of people now who started way after us. Lots who started on April 1. Hmm. It doesn't worry me yet but I would have felt better not taking so many days off in Hot Springs. Oh well, I guess you can't control getting sick. I think Certain and I are both ready to pick up the pace a bit so probably within the next few weeks here. This stretch is troubling because we have to carry so much food.Gadget and Scribe were supposed to slackpack yesterday but I don't think they did since we never ran into them. I'm guessing they enjoyed the festival instead but hopefully Scribe's ankle is okay.Right now, I'm at the shelter waiting for Certain to finish up getting ready. I was just telling her how I don't feel like my head's quite in the game yet today. I don't really feel like hiking today and all I can think about are things going on back home. Exciting things, not so exciting things, what people are doing, things I need to do, when will I be able to talk to friends and family again, when will I see them again. I go through these phases and sometimes they are worse than others but I sure hope I snap out of this soon....Wow, what a difference trail magic can make. We knocked out a little over three miles out before noon. It was a nice hike, not too hard and very pretty. Then we got to Allen Gap and...there was a sign for trail magic! We had just been talking about eating lunch and how hungry we were. We were also dreaming of brownies that Certain is expecting in Damascus. So, when we read about a home 300 yards away with stew, belgian waffles, and desserts, we looked like little kids who were just told they could get a puppy. It was just off the trail and up a pretty gigantic driveway. We walked up the side of it with trekking poles! When we got there, we knew the hike up the driveway was worth it. We were greeted by Sarge who was relaxing outside in a hammock and Heidi the dog. He welcomed us inside and, wow, it was beautiful. It was a log cabin style home with a beautiful kitchen and a large dining room table for us to sit around. Somersault served me an iced tea and then the food began coming. It kept appearing in front of me! First course was a pecan belgian waffle (Bad Leg John, I thought of you) with real maple syrup. Next course was homemade beef stew - delicious! If I had access to a kitchen in the next five months, I would have asked for the recipe. Then we were given a choice of desserts - cherry pie, brownie sundae, or pecan cobbler. I obviously chose the brownie sundae since we had just been talking about brownies. It was amazing. It even had a cherry on top. We all gathered around the table and just chatted for a while. Turns out FAL (Free at Last) and Hercules had been looking to purchase a home along the trail and they had quite a few stipulations: 1) it had to be less than half of a mile from the trail so that hikers would actually walk there, 2) it could not be in a trail town because hikers would not need them there, 3) it had to have a blacktop road so it would be plowed and hikers could access it. There were a couple of others that I don't remember. Turns out Hercules wanted to offer five thousand less than the asking price...but in the morning, he learned that the price had been lowered five thousand - perfect! So, they bought the house three years ago and have been there doing trail magic ever since. They said they do it just about every day. They hiked the trail in 1999. Their friends, Somersault and Sarge, were there helping out. They did a southbound hike in 2005. Each of them were so nice. They shared stories of their hikes and we talked about ours. We played with their dog, Heidi, for a while and just hung out on their steps outside. They have a great place there. It's amazing to me that people would buy a home JUST to do trail magic. Amazing. So, like I was saying, what a difference trail magic makes. I was having a hard time this morning and those nice people turned my day right around. I really appreciated that.We were there for about three hours and then we were walking back to the trail. We were just about to the trail when I heard people yelling at us from the back of a truck. Guess who? Scribe and Gadget! They were getting dropped off for their slackpack. Scribe had brought me a little magic too - a tomato biscuit from the Smoky Mountain Diner in Hot Springs! It was so neat that we ran into them - a minute later or sooner and our paths would not have crossed.Scribe also had with her some magic from Arlayne, our sushi angel. It was the Golden Seal herbal cold remedy that she had told me about the other day. She gave it to Scribe because they expected to run into us. I think it was so nice of her to pick that up and drive it all the way to Hot Springs. Thank you, Arlayne.The rest of the day went pretty quickly - though it was mostly uphill. I was a little tired after all of that food. It was really warm out and that was fabulous!We are now here at the shelter with DuckSoup and Pyro sitting around a nice fire Pyro made. Nice guys, section hikers who met a couple of years ago on the trail and now come out here to hike section together. Good times. - Sound of Certain and DuckSoup talking, fire cracking.