Date: 2009-04-30
From: Thomas Knob Shelter

To: Baptist Church Hostel
Miles today: 21.0

today started out pretty good. i mean the weather sucked, it was all cloudy and kinda cold and it was sopposed to rain all day. luckily it wasnt when we woke up though. i headed out at about 930am and hiked through Gracin Highland, which was awesome! it was probebly one of my favorite places so far. it was on top of a mountain with all these rocks and some trees here and there. and then with the smokey clouds rolling through it was just really cool. i really liked it. and to top it off, I SAW WILD PONIES!! they were soo freakin cute! i actually went right up to them and got to pet them and stuff! they arnt scared of humans at all, they actually like us cause some people feed'em and stuff. there was a little baby and everything. omg, they were just the cuttest things. they made my day! the shelters today were all about 5 miles apart, so i stopped at each other them, had a bite to eat and took my pack off and rested for about an hr. it was nice cause it broke the day up for me and my shoulders have been hurting again so it was nice to take my pack off every 2 hrs or so. it never ended up raining which was awesome! i was prepaired the entire day though. i started with my rain gear on and then i changed into my wet clothes from yesterday so they would dry, which they did, completely. i really wanna catch up to joe kickass, truckin, narwhal, skip, leon and crank. i gotta really push the miles though, i mean they're only two days ahead, but they are moving too. ugh, i hope i catch them. they keep writing things in the registers saying "catch up already" im trying im trying!i met a really nice lady whos from buffalo, she actually lives in clearance, crazy huh? she knew exactly where i lived and everything. shes section hiking the trail, so shell be off the trail in about another week or so.max, one of the men who emailed me on trail journals about me needing help with my parents, has been around for the past week or so. and we were finally parting ways and you know what he did? chelle later that day said "ur friend max gave me something to give you" and he gave me his blow up therma-rest! he saw how thin mine was heard me say how difficult it is for me to sleep cause my hips hurt from the hard ground, and he gave me his!!! god he is soo nice! thank you so much max! i hope you enjoy the rest of your hike! it was great to spend time with you!!! (((huuuuugs)))almond joy (this dude from isreal) chelle and i ended up walking 21 miles to a road and hitching 2.5 miles to a hostel at a church and is free!! soo cool! so i had a hot shower and nice room to sleep in for free! i was really happy about it. i couldnt walk another 4 miles to the next shelter if someone paid me too! my feet started to rub raw around my ankles. i tell ya man, if its not one thing, its something else. ugh. if its not my shoulders, its my acheles tendon, or my knees, or my feet. ugh. i just hope it doesnt hurt too much tomrorow, ill bandage them up real good. i passed out right away after dinner, i was sooooo tired. i think its cause ive had some long days latly and i havn't zeroed in a while. all i keep thinking it "trail magic on saturday, trail magic on saturday" it gets me through my day. rain for the next 72 hours they say... ugh. it stinks. im not too happy about it. at least its warm out though... PONIES!