“See You On The Other Side”

AT Day 132

Miles Today: 8.93

AT Mile: 2083.8

(Shaw’s Hostel)

I’m going to keep this one short. Mostly out of desire to be with the group of hikers here at Shaw’s Hostel and enjoy my last night at a hostel in my Triple Crown.

—

I got my owl feather back today.

It’s actually been with me, in an envelope for a couple hundred miles, but I’ve been too scared to strap it to my pack, in fear of losing it. So I just left it in the envelope.

Then, today I opened it, as I want to wear it for the last hundred miles. In it there was a hand written three pages from the gal who found it, brought it back to Texas, mailed it to my friend Hemlock, who then mailed it back to me.

Right now I can’t find the words for how magical it was to open that envelope and see that feather that I carried for over a thousand miles and that’s now been away for just as long.

—

There was a small thought in my head that I’d drop in here to Shaw’s, resupply, and then get back to trail today. But the moment that I saw the place, I realized that wasn’t going to happen. I could almost be convinced to do a zero here if it weren’t for having plans with Boots after the trail and needing to get on my way. It’s time though. I feel good about where things are in my hike.

There were nine miles to cover this morning to get to the road crossing that lead here. If those were like the miles of New Hampshire and Southern Maine then I’d still be hiking in all likelihood, but they’re totally different. These have been some of the most chill miles of the entire trail. It was wonderful. A lot like what I had yesterday.

The hostel is maybe the best that I’ve seen of the whole trail. There are a lot of other hikers here and the energy is good. It feels happy. It doesn’t feel like the end of something. That’s what I’ve been afraid of. My other long trails ended in tragedy, and I guess subconsciously I was expecting that. But now here I am. Here we are. Here it is. At the end of this summer-long experience, and most of us seem ready for it to be done.

I was able to buy resupply for the last one hundred miles of trail and I got a new battery bank. The outdoor store that they have here at the hostel is actually quite impressive. Amongst the best that I’ve seen anywhere on trail. Lots of ultra lite gear to nerd over.

I bought a new battery bank to ensure that I’ll have camera battery for these last one hundred miles and I got a quilt liner to keep me from freezing my ass off like I did two nights ago. Those two things were expensive, and I hate to be adding to my ultra lite gear collection now, but it is what it is. I don’t want to not enjoy this last week of the AT.

On that note, I also splurged on high quality diners for this last week. I got Peak and MountainHouse meals for dinner every night and even a cobbler for breakfast my last morning.

I’m honestly really feeling good about things where I am now. I’m looking forward to this last week.

Tomorrow I enter the One Hundred Mile Wilderness and it’s unlikely that I’ll have cell service during that time. I’ll still be writing, but I may not post again until the end of the trail.

My plan is to summit Katahdin (hey, look at that; I’ve learned how to spell it) on the 26th.

Will see you on the other side.

Wormwoood.