Bama to Baxter, Day 19: More magical trails!!!

Last night I slept well again. Getting a good night’s sleep makes the hike easier. I don’t know what the difference has been these last few nights, but the difference has been marked. I fell asleep easily and stayed asleep most of the night. Much better than what I faced on my first few days of hiking. In fact, my alarm woke me up at 6:00 am and I was on my way at 7:00, intending to walk a little over 18 miles today. About two hours in, I walked along a trail off the highway and ran into David and Marie, a couple from Florida, who had hiked most of the Arizona Trail last year. They had outfitted their truck to be a camper and slept in it at night and hiked during the day. They were planning to attack a section of the Pinhoti today.

Of course, there was a climb from the road and when I reached the top, I ran into Ole Mr. B. again. He was doing more trail maintenance and I caught up with him just as he was breaking camp. We talked a little more and he pointed out that he had left me some magic on the trail.

At about five hours in, I double-checked FarOut to get an idea of ​​my progress. While I had moved well again this morning, I noticed that a water source was missing for several miles before my planned campsite. Since I had already passed the last listed water source, I made the decision to walk to a stream that I could see on the FarOut Topo map. I refilled my bottles and bought half a bag of water to take with me to camp. According to FarOut, I had about 7 miles left to get to camp. It’s been a wonderful day so far. I’ve taken off all my warm clothes and am just walking around in my hoodie again like I did for most of the first two weeks. The trail conditions have been wonderful. A light breeze was blowing and the sun was shining brightly. At six hours in, I stopped in a clearing at the top of a climb, and while I was sitting there eating lunch, my hiking buddy, Ron, came down the Sobo trail. We chatted briefly, and I learned that he’s a veteran hiker who completed the AT in sections over eight years, and now that he’s retired, he was choosing shorter trails so he wouldn’t be away from home for long periods of time.

After stopping for lunch, I started to think that I should walk to Dalton and get a room for tonight and tomorrow night. When I watched FarOut, it seemed doable. But I didn’t make a decision until I got to my chosen campground for the day and realized I didn’t like it, so I called the motel directly to check on room availability, and they had one for me. I had a little more climbing to do, and then it was all downhill with about 2 1/2 miles of walking to the edge of Dalton. It looked like the hike to Dalton would leave me between 21 and 22 miles a day. My legs felt good and I had plenty of water and food. The walk to the hotel was quite boring. There were some beautiful houses along the way. Someone around here has some money.

After checking in, I showered and got dressed. I headed to Cracker Barrel, which was practically next door to my hotel. As some of you have probably realized, I’m a creature of habit, so yes, I knew my order before I even looked at the menu: chicken and dumplings with sides of carrots and broccoli, biscuits, and Mellow Yellow. While I was waiting for my food and even while I was eating a little, I was using FarOut to try to plan the last week of the hike to Amicalola State Park, the starting point of the Approach Trail that leads to Springer Mountain, the southern terminus of the Appalachian Trail. Specifically, I was wondering how much food I would need to carry beyond Toadshade Hill. By the end of the meal, I was pretty convinced that I would need four days of food to reach a small resupply option just off the Benton McKay trail, which would then leave me with a three-day drive to Amicalola.

I returned to the hotel after dinner, checked in with my wife, and went through my leftover food to see how much I could use over the next four days. I made a shopping list for the next morning. Lihat d56dx untuk info lebih lanjut. I woke up a little later than I expected, but I knew I had a relaxing day ahead of me tomorrow, so I didn’t worry too much.

Happy trails. . .

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