Date: 2018-04-13
From: US-19E

To: Tent Site - Vicinity Hardcore Cascades
Miles today: 16.0

Yesterday started with a breakfast befitting the 5-star Mountain Harbor Hostel. AYCE egg casserole, sausage, ham, fried potatoes, hash brown casserole, blueberry pancakes, biscuits and gravy and egg croissants. We had heard that it was the best breakfast served on the AT. It lived up to its reputation! The down side to such an amazing feast is that it is very difficult to motivate yourself up the mountains after eating so much food. But, up we went! Next Step was feeling very sluggish today for more reasons than one. Unfortunately, we had woken up during the night in our 5 star room to what felt like sweltering heat! I had turned the thermostat down to about 64, but it must have not been working right. (Or maybe it¢s due to the fact that for the last 48 days, we¢ve been mostly sleeping outside in mid-20 to upper-30 degree temps). Whatever the case, you would have thought Next Step was experiencing a hot flash! He jumped out of bed, shedding blankets and opening windows faster than I¢ve seen him move in the last 48 days. Then he remained wide awake and worked on the journal from 1-5 am. That, along with the AYCE breakfast, would affect his pace the entire day. But like I told him, ¢Some days you get to be the tug boat, and some days you just have to settle being the barge.¢ For the first few weeks, I felt like the barge with all of my knee issues, so I was more than happy to be the tug boat. I had lots of energy, because I knew that the more miles we got in today, the quicker we would get to our hostel  tomorrow. And the potential for REAL FOOD!! I¢m sure you¢ve noticed even thinking I MIGHT get to go to town causes me to have abnormal hiking energy!! LolThe trail was overflowing with signs of Spring and was green with rhododendrons and a thickening undergrowth. The path soon passed by a beautiful country cemetery and then by a quaint little church - so serene! Then we hiked along a mountain river gently flowing over big rocks. Just the kind I would have loved to play in as a kid. If I hadn¢t been trying to get in big miles, I would have suggested we stop for a minute to soak our feet. There is nothing better for ¢hiker feet¢ than a quick soak in a frigid mountain stream. Of course it¢s so cold, you can only stand it for a few seconds at a time. But that¢s really all it takes to cool down the burning callouses we¢ve already built up. I¢m quite sure that the next time I get to go in for a pedicure, they will take one look at my rough feet and charge me double!! But I¢m hoping that Damascus will be just the place to find out!! And if I can be sipping on an ice cold fountain Coke Zero while enjoying my pedicure, I¢m pretty sure that Next Step will have to pry my fingers from the chair to get me out of there. Ok, back to the hike. I got a bit distracted there in my daydream.We saw that there was a side trail to Jones Falls that we would reach around lunch time. It was only .2 miles off the trail, so we thought we would go there and eat. But right before we got to the side trail, we got to do our Friday the 13th Happy Dance, because we reached another milestone- 400 miles!!! That last 100 went by much quicker than the previous 100 for sure!! We then saw the side trail and I¢m so glad we decided to go to the falls. They had to be between 150-200 feet tall. You can see the pictures, but I¢m sure they won¢t do them justice. Absolutely breathtaking! Not far after resuming our hike, we came to another set, Mountaineer Falls. Not nearly as magnificent as Jones Falls, but still beautiful. Seriously, almost every day we come across so many sights that cause us to pause and just be thankful not only for His creation, but also for the fact that we¢re so blessed to be making this journey and being able to experience it firsthand!We hiked on and as the temps got higher, our energy levels got lower. We decided we would start looking for a place to tent around 5:00. We found the perfect spot, except one small problem, there was no water source near it. Not only did we not have water to cook our supper and next day¢s breakfast, but we were almost out of drinking water. The next source was at a cascading stream about 1.5 miles ahead and there was a tent site about .6 miles after the stream. That would put us at about 16 miles for the day and only leave about 9 miles to get us to the Black Bear Resort tomorrow. We were both running on fumes by then, but we knew that our hike was almost over for the day, so we pressed on. We found the tent site and it was perfect. It had a homemade fire ring and everything! Only one problem, there was a dead tree right in the line of fire. Um. No thank you. We¢ll have to find another spot. Next Step knew I wouldn¢t sleep a wink with that hanging over my head (no pun intended). So even though he was beyond exhausted, he went on up the trail looking for a better spot. He circled back behind our spot, and, nestled right behind us in the rhododendrons grove, was the perfect stealth site!! Just one more reason I love that man! We quickly washed off, changed out of our sweat drenched clothes into something dry, and then got the tent up in a hurry. While I got my sleep pad blown up, Next Step made a path back up to the original site which would make the perfect cooking spot. While he got his sleeping gear ready, I started cooking our supper, Knorr mac n cheese with some pre-cooked chicken breast thrown in. Not too bad. However, after we finish this hike, I hope to NEVER eat another Knorr pasta dish or a bite of tuna as long as I¢m blessed to live! Some things you have to do because you know it¢s good for you (i.e. eat tuna because it¢s packed with protein) but you don¢t have to like it! We got everything cleaned up and Next Step got the bear bags hung right before dark. Perfect timing!Hugs - Which WayP.S. Almost every night Next Step falls asleep after only writing a couple of lines of the journal. But then he¢ll always wake up around 2 or 3 am and finish it. This did not happen last night. He slept like a log, so I am frantically trying to do yesterday¢s journal as we sit here eating our lunch. Elevation Data:                  Weather:Ascent ~ 3,570                    Day ¢ 77 degrees / SunnyDescent ~ 2,830                  Night ¢ 53 degrees / ClearGrade ~ 7.6Over the Horizon: Damascus, VA