We were happy to begin our 5th day on the trail with some sun, we had started to crave it! We got a bit of a late start, hitting the trail around noon, so we planned on only hiking about 7 miles. As we reached our planned destination, the campsite was leaving a lot to be desired. It was right next to a loud, busy roadway, the water source didn’t look very reliable, and Alex found that someone had pooped by a tent site not 10 feet from the creek (to not contaminate the water source they ask you to go at least 80ft away and bury your waste). Gross. We were frustrated and not sure what to do, we needed water and a place to sleep. It was already getting late and the next water source was 5 miles away. Annoyed, we made up our minds to move on. It wasn’t raining and it was relatively warm, we could hike into the night with our headlamps if we needed to.
As we walked out of the creek area up to the road, we crossed it and were greeted by a group of people standing around a pop-up tent. When they saw us they greeted us with, “trail magic?” They welcomed us over and showed us to the buffet they had set up. It was filled with everything hikers want but can’t carry with them: soup, salad, sandwiches, pasta salad, baked goods, fresh fruit, candy, coffee, Gatorade, and so many other goodies. Even a charging station for phones. They also had…you guessed it…water! The spread was incredible. They urged us to take as much as we wanted and kept stuffing our bags with more. They told us that they come to this spot every weekend at the start of the thru-hiking season to setup this buffet for hikers passing through. We couldn’t thank them enough, the timing was perfect. And with the water we stocked up on they saved us a few hours of hiking in the dark. After loading our bags and showering them with our gratefulness, we moved on. We were able to find a nice, quiet campsite just a short hike North. An amazing surprise end to our day 🙂
I had read about trail magic, but I thought it would be rare. Since that encounter, we have run into some sort of trail magic at almost every road crossing. Nothing as extravagant as the buffet, but we have been offered donuts, soda, chips, cookies, Gatorade, and even beer. All from people who just want to do something nice and a lot of them (trail angels, as they are sometimes called) had thru-hiked in the past. What a cool thing to do! I’ve decided I need to be a trail angel someday.
As we had such a short day the day before, we decided to start pushing our mileage a bit and shoot for 12 miles. The terrain looked pretty manageable, no major climbs, so we thought that would be doable! We had another foggy, wet day and a really enjoyable hike. It felt good to push beyond 10 miles. We setup camp at the Blue Mountain Shelter, pretty close to the peak of Blue Mountain. The drizzle kept us in our tent early and the weather report warned of some high winds into the evening. As the drizzle stopped, the wind came in full force. All of a sudden huge gusts came ripping across our campsite shaking and pushing the walls of our tent in. It was freaking me out, it felt like we were going to blow away! Alex secured the tent lines outside and we just sat there while the wind ripped through hoping our tent would hold up. Turns out, we have a badass tent – full success! It was definitely the most intense weather I have ever camped in. The wind died down after a couple of hours and we could sleep peacefully.
After that wet day and windy night, we woke up to a beautiful sunny morning. We were happy to have good weather as we were planning on another longer day, about 13 miles, with several 1,000ft+ climbs ahead of us. This was definitely our most challenging day, it totally kicked our asses. But we could both tell at the end of it that our bodies are adjusting and getting stronger. And we weren’t absolutely destroyed the next morning. Progress! It’s good to know, because it doesn’t look like we have much flat ground for the first few hundred miles.
Pushing through two longer days allowed us a short 6.5 miles to our next destination – Dick’s Creek Gap – where we would get off the trail for our first zero! Zero=day with no hiking. There is a lot of trail lingo on the A.T. Anyways, after hiking 8 days straight, we felt ready for a break. The weather forecast was also a motivator as it called for heavy rains and winds for the next two days. So 2 days off it was! We figured we have plenty of time to hike through bad weather, we can wait this storm out. So here we find ourselves at a weird little apartment we rented for a few nights above an AT&T store in Hiawassee, GA. We have spent our time cooking delicious meals (salmon, potato salad, roast chicken, bacon & eggs), cleaning our gear, and resting our bodies. Oh, and eating ice cream. While a day off felt amazing, two has felt like a lot! We are ready to get back out there and it seems like we will be greeted with sunny skies.
Wandering Between Meals 
Loved reading about the “trail magic” and what a wonderful treat for hikers to come upon! You certainly had well deserved break and I bet that ice cream hit the spot.
I LOVE hearing about your big adventure! THANK YOU for taking the time to share it with us. You 2 are amazing! BRAVO!