“Joined by a Friend”

AT Day 44

Miles: 28.40

Total Miles: 810.70

(Marble Ridge; retired dirt road; tent)

I was talking to somebody at Huckleberry’s Hostel a few nights back. He was the owner of the hostel, and a former thru hiker. If I’m not mistaken, he hiked the AT last year.

Anyways, we got to talking, and he became really prescriptive about “how” someone should hike the AT. Now I’ve heard this kind of thing many times over; plenty of people have their opinion about how to hike a thru hike. But that’s where the saying “Hike your own hike” comes from. It means that you get to make your own rules.

But this time I didn’t get that feel as he talked to me. In fact, I really liked some of the things that he shared. He talked about taking a “Trail Zero” on his second to last day of the AT, immediately before summiting Katadan (which I still have many miles to figure out how to spell correctly). He said someday I should just sit beside the trail and watch the other thru hikers as they march by.

There was more to it as well, but the point is that I really liked what he shared.

—

I had been a bit worried yesterday that my brain was getting sort of worn out after the experiences around that day at Mackafee’s Nob. But then I got a mostly full night of sleep last night and feel much better today. I even woke up to my tent door wide open; not the first time that I’ve done that now. Glad that this time a mouse didn’t crawl in.

—

Today I had a friend from Arizona join me for some miles of the AT. We met at the gym when he commented on the trail tattoos that I have on the back of my ankle. He asked when I was going to do the AT, and I told him April 11th. It was the first time that I had an answer to the question, and I’d been asked it many times prior. He was just the first one to ask me since I’d set a date to actually get out here and do it.

His name is Leo.

He’s also a thru hike, but he has not done the AT. He has hiked the PCT and CDT and a few other trails though, so he absolutely knows how to plow miles. He was one of the few friends I have back in AZ who could push the miles to keep up in the Grand Canyon while I was there training for this trail. He lives closer to here now though, and so he wanted to jump on trail with me for a couple of days.

This will be by far the longest that I’ve had someone with me sharing miles since I’ve started the AT. Already, just after the 20 miles that we did together today, that’s already more than I’ve shared with any other AT hiker.

And it’s been really nice. I’ve really loved the company. And we have history, so conversation with him is good.

I had already had a half gram when I met him this morning at mile 6, but then we both had another gram.

He made it clear to me that I have in fact built up more of a tolerance than I have been believing. Because although I absolutely still swim in the waters, his experience was a lot heavier than my own. This is giving me further thought that I’ll maybe take a tolerance break in the near future. Likely around Day 50.

Leo stayed at a hostel north of here last night, and shuttled down to meet me this morning. He told me that when he mentioned that he was going to meet his friend “Wormwood,” more than one hiker remarked that they knew of me. Leo didn’t know why the first ones had heard of me, but he said the others were two “older gals” who “just said that they’d heard you’re cute.”

“Did you get their names?” I asked?

“I didn’t.”
“Leo! You had ONE job!”

I kid of course.

But I’m still a human being, and I’m not going to pretend that it doesn’t feel good to hear something like that. If nothing else, it sort of validates the goddam pushups… which I still need to get 40x before going to sleep in a bit.

The miles with Leo were fun today. He hikes at a similar pace, and it was nice to have someone to talk to for much of the day. I tried to not bore him with too much talk about “Boots,” but she’s also on my mind a lot, so it’s impossible not to bring it up more often than I’d like.

We texted a bit more today, and it’s just looking more solidified that she’ll be driving up to meet me at Harper’s Ferry in 2 weeks. We’ll have 2-3 days together. It’ll be a good rest from the trail, and if it’s anything even close to Trail Days, it’ll also do wonders at refilling my soul. I expect it will.

—

By the end of the day we definitely could have broken 30 miles if we’d tried, but since Trail Days I’m just taking this trail different than I did before. I really don’t give a damn about big mile days. I’m much more enjoying the experience itself.

Tomorrow we’ll hike around 25, then the following day it’ll just be 2 miles to Leo’s car. He’ll bring me to town for resupply, and we’ve talked about getting a good breakfast.

One more full day on trail together though.

Oh… final note that’s sort of a big deal… I have a pack strap that’s ripping. Big problem. I’m likely going to have to have Hyperlite send me a new one up trial. Might say more about that, but I’m literally so tired that I’m falling asleep. So peace out.

Wormwood.