8/3/20 Day 89-90: Dennytown Road (1421.0) to Canopus Lake Beach/Fish Kill (1426.8)

Monday, August 3 10:08 pm (entry written on Tuesday, August 4)

AT 1421.0 Dennytown Rd → AT 1426.8 Canopus Lake Beach/Fish Kill

Weather: Hot and sunny

Trail Conditions: Short and sweet day. The mining road was cool!

My Condition: Happy to be in town!

Hikers Met: New York Steve, NOBO Jinx

New York Steve, who hiked with and fed us this morning, has crewed for many of the greats – he crewed for Jennifer Pharr Davis during her FKT attempts, hiked some of the trail with Scott Jurek, never crewed for Speedgoat, but is excited to hopefully meet Mercury. He was incredible to hike with – lots of stories from ultrarunning and from the AT. Hung out at the beach and got an Uber to Fish Kill for tonight and tomorrow, where we will avoid Hurricane Isaias. Incredible hotel suite at the Hawthorn Suites by Wyndham – we had a full kitchen and living room on top of everything else for a very reasonable rate. Had our own private swim time, which the previous swimmers spilled into unfortunately. We still very much enjoyed the pool and hot tub. Got a bath robe at Walmart, which is perfect for lounging around in. Also got Chipotle AND Indian food, both of which were incredible.

Post Trail Analysis

We all awoke and packed up, neglecting to eat knowing we were doing breakfast with New York Steve. He had asked where we were staying, and we were half expecting him to show up with his car at the nearby parking lot. Little did we know that he was hiking all the way in! We relied on snacks to give us the energy to crush these morning miles, eventually making it to his car where he had some delicious breakfast bagels waiting for us. So worth the wait! Trail magic is always amazing, but it’s even more special when you really get to spend time with the people behind it. 2020 and COVID threw all of us a LOT of curveballs, but for those of us who still thru hiked, one of the many hidden blessings was getting to spend much more personal time with these trail angels without the usually overwhelming crowds. Getting to hear the stories, motivations, and inspirations of these amazing individuals has been truly special.

Our Uber driver graciously let us pack all 4 of us into his vehicle, knowing that he was just going to have to make the long trip back to this same parking lot to pick up the other pair if he split up the journey. We tried to request an UberXL! Blue again took full advantage of Walmart’s “rental” service, as we bought (and later returned) an Amazon Fire Stick to provide us with entertainment during our zero/wait-out-the-hurricane day. We did our resupply shopping, and stocked up on town food and snacks, only to find out at the register that New York doesn’t do easy-to-carry plastic shopping bags. Oops. With our packs back at the room and with no other options, we were forced to get creative. We walked across town, back to the hotel, with our shopping cart in tow. Worry not, we took great care of it, even sheltering it under a staircase during the heavy rain, and returned it to Walmart the next day.

Jinx, a recent graduate who had hiked with and bonded with Blue over his upcoming enlistment, decided to take shelter from the impending weather with us and did some fancy cooking – steak tacos if I remember correctly? Whatever it was, it was delicious and much more classy than what we were planning to cook. Inspired by my recent classy bathrobe purchase, we held a special ceremony to officially welcome Hummingbird and Jinx to our family’s group text, complete with candles and overly dramatic music (Carmina Burana: O Fortuna).

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