Saturday, July 18 6:15 pm 18.1 mi
AT 1184.0 Tentsite → AT 1202.1 Stealth Site
Weather: Hot and sunny
Trail Conditions: Pretty rocky day today. Intended campsite at Hertline Campsite and Creek was packed and seemed like party central – loud music, coolers of beer, too much excitement for me
My Condition: Feeling pretty good! My knees, ankles, and feet were glad to be done for the day today
This morning, we passed a bridge and parking area that had a TRASH CAN!!! I can’t believe how much joy and excitement that brought me, but there it is! Hit the 1200 mile mark today, which means there are less than 1000 miles to go. Pretty incredible! Sat and chatted over a nice lunch with Blue and Puddles at the spring midway through the day. Blue is running into Hamburg to resupply and take care of some mandatory online training for the Navy. We’ll be meeting her there tomorrow, and I’m looking forward to a shower and some town food – sounds like they have a Cracker Barrel!
Post Trail Analysis
I can only speak for my own experience, but I feel like this entry exhibits what I wish the ATC and the people who thought we were being dangerous, reckless, and irresponsible thru hiking in 2020 understood. In a typical year, the AT is considered by many to be a “Party Trail.” Each year, hikers start earlier and earlier hoping to avoid “The Bubble.” To each their own, but I wasn’t comfortable with that sort of social experience, ESPECIALLY in the current climate. On this busy weekend, not only was it packed with people camping and rope swinging, you had music coming from seemingly every direction, coolers of beer and many people probably too young to be legally drinking it, and even somebody actively chainsawing up their own firewood right there from around the campsite they had chosen. I understood that the way in which I hiked the trail would impact the towns and communities I passed through, not just myself. To each their own, but I considered my choices carefully and strove to make responsible decisions, for myself and for those I’d interact with. Seeing the crowds as well as the potential risks, I skedaddled pretty quickly, and plopped down in a stealth site a little further up the trail.
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