Friday, July 31 8:51 pm 13.6 mi
AT 1374.6 Warwick, NY → AT 1388.2 Island Pond
Weather: Rainy overnight, hot and sunny today
Trail Conditions: Earned every mile today! Lots of steep climbs and descents, mostly over rocky terrain involving climbing
My Condition: Pretty exhausted between a good day of hiking and a late night last night. Movie ended about 12:30, but I was all jacked up on Mountain Dew and didn’t sleep well. Hopefully tonight I’ll catch up on sleep
Turns out I stayed at Overmountain Shelter with both Puddles AND Hummingbird back on June 1. She remembered the dog barking and sprinting around me and my tent as I made little playful lunges for the puppy. I remember being shy and journaling/taking care of my feet instead of putting myself out there and talking to strangers. She and Puddles have been hiking together on and off since Puddles’s second day on trail! Apparently she got her name from being quick and quiet. Also met Bulldog, a thru hiker from Georgia about 15 minutes from Amicalola. Had a bad dog encounter (not with the hiker Bulldog!) at the end of the day – a guy with a German Shepherd who wasn’t on leash at the time, rather just being dragged by the harness or collar. The dog lunged and mostly overpowered the guy, and snapped at me. Fortunately it didn’t get me. The guy just yelled at the dog and kept walking – no apology to me for almost getting bit by his dog. I texted my trail family to warn them he was coming their direction on the trail, and fortunately they were able to give them a wide berth. Had a blast at the movies last night – Blue reminds me of watching commercials, TV, and movies with my dad – lots of laughing at everything! We laughed our way through Madagascar and Talladega Nights while Puddles snoozed through most of the second movie. Got my replacement pair of Aeropex headphones from the Warwick post office this morning. Looking forward to no more tangling my trekking poles with the cord!
Post Trail Analysis
At this point in time, the US Postal Service was going through a rather turbulent period. Shipping and delivery times, usually quite reliable, were all over the place. We had decided to use the post office at Warwick as the shipping destination for my headphones, and sent them early enough that we didn’t think we’d have any issues. In the end, we cut it dangerously close, but thankfully they arrived on time! Now I was back in business. Shared some red, white, and blue triple stuffed Oreos with my trail family to celebrate our newest addition.
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