Sunday, August 9 8:31 pm 18.7 mi
AT 1487.1 Pine Swamp Brook Shelter → AT 1505.8 Riga Shelter
Weather: Hot, humid, overcast/sunny PM
Trail Conditions: Fairly easy walking today! A few blowdowns, but less than I’ve dealt with the last few days
My Condition: Pooped myself into discomfort today. Otherwise, good! Ready for bed, and appetite seems to be normal again
Hit mile 1500 today! Weirdly, the sign was at mile 1500.9, way high up on a tree, and was a permanent sign, not the sticks and rocks used for most of them. Really enjoyed our campsite last night – all the tents were super close so we conversed late into the night. Puddles wants us to visit Austin for avacado margaritas, the mega Texas sized waterpark, and a Lord of the Rings marathon. Ran into a double trail magic spot today – two coolers from two different sets of trail angels! Erin and Gregg had a relatively healthy selection – bananas, applesauce, vitamin water. Stormy and Pirate, who I ran into about 5 minutes into the subsequent climb, had ginger beer, beer beer, and gatorade. In talking to them, it sounds like Connecticut is in the same boat as New York – lots of towns, businesses, and homes near the trail still without power. Got into camp much earlier than the tramily (except Hummingbird!) and lounged/napped in the comfort of my tent. They went in to town (except HB) to the Toymaker Cafe for lunch, but we had opted to bypass it. We made Mercury’s blog! “Mercury also had a nice encounter with a group of thru hikers who offered her encouragement.” That’s us! We’re the nice encounter group!!
Post Trail Analysis
I remember almost, but not quite, panicking as I passed mile 1500.0, then 1500.1, then 1500.2, and so on, and still didn’t see a trail marker. Normally, there’s no missing them. I thought about gathering sticks and stones, but something told me to keep walking. There it was, at mile 1500.9, right when I was about to give up hope. The sad reality of life after the trail is that life goes on. Your tramily, who you become so close with on the trail, goes their separate ways, all across the country. They get jobs, life happens, and before you know it it’s been over a year and you still haven’t seen them all. I miss Puddles, Hummingbird, and Blue Sasquatch like crazy and although we still text often and do a tramily Zoom call every now and then, we still need to find the time for a tramily reunion!
Comments