Saturday, August 8 8:23 pm 10.0 mi
AT 1477.1 Stewart Hollow Brook Shelter → AT 1487.1 Pine Swamp Brook Shelter
Weather: Hot and sunny
Trail Conditions: A couple of big uphills, some blowdowns, but on the whole pretty smooth sailing
My Condition: Great! Today was awesome!
Today is Puddles’s birthday! We stopped into Cornwall Bridge to resupply, grab a few beers, sing happy birthday and eat some cupcakes, and celebrate. She had written me a birthday poem, so I responded in kind with a poem/roast, which she seemed to enjoy. We got a ride back to the trailhead from a family with a truck – our first hitch! We rode in the bed, and my hat went flying off about 50 feet from our destination. As I ran to collect it, I realized that the man across the street was none other than Warren Doyle, 18x AT thru hiker! Shortly after meeting him, Mercury came flying down the trail, emerging from the woods to a chorus of our cheers and applause! She stopped at Warren’s van to water up and then stopped over to chat. She was so cool! Asked us when we started, where we were from, how far we planned to go that day. We all took a big group photo. I told her to keep kickin’ butt. Warren dropped two great lines – 1. “Enjoy the simple freedom of the trail.” and 2. “Don’t let anyone cheapen the experience for you.” both of which are powerful, profound, yet simple and to the point. Warren also gave me a big, melted container of chocolate chip ice cream, which I devoured!
Orders her eggs over easy
And her burgers too
Bring her a Coke or PBR
And she’ll be friends with you
Shouldn’t eat the gluten
But we enable her anyways
Then destroys the bathroom at Walmart
It surely reeks for days
Less murder-y than Carole
More exotic than Joe
Ain’t no cooler cats or kittens on trail
That much for sure I know
Her name isn’t Jennifer
But we love her anyways
From all of your trail fam
We hope you have the happiest of birthdays
Post Trail Analysis
Blue Uber’d into another town to pick up cupcakes from a grocery store, and tasked us with distracting Puddles until she got back. Fortunately, we had easy access to snacks and beer, so it turned out to be quite easy! Cornwall Bridge was one of the trail towns still reeling from the effects of the recent hurricane, however. The beer distributor was without power, so we shopped in the dark. The general store didn’t have phone/internet, so cards were not a payment option and it was cash only. Luckily, we had enough cash on hand to spot one another for snacks and resupply. Meeting Warren and Mercury was incredible. Not only were they two legends, they were both so kind and down to earth. I remarked that Warren was probably the most famous person I had ever met, and he said I must not know very many people then. The fact that they were so willing to sit down and spend time with us, asking us real questions and actually listening to what we had to say, blew me away. When Mercury didn’t want the ice cream, Warren – knowing hikers – offered it to us. I happily obliged and quickly made it disappear. His words have stuck with me, especially in the wake of the ATC’s decision to not recognize miles hiked in 2020 – “Don’t let anyone cheapen the experience for you.” I’m not out here hiking for a certificate, or the approval of an organization. It’s unfortunate, but ultimately shouldn’t matter to me. We made a life-changing discovery tonight – brooms. It’s such a tedious process clearing sticks and rocks, branches and pebbles, from your selected tent spot, but it’s important to do if you don’t want holes in your tent’s floor, and if you don’t want sticks poking you in the back while you’re trying to sleep. Most of the shelter sites have a broom, and these brooms make for a quick, incredibly efficient clearing of your campsite. We drank the remaining PBR from the earlier celebration which I had hauled from town, thankful to be rid of the excess weight in my pack and even more thankful for the easy, liquid calories I was pouring into my engine.
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