Entertainment Comes Cheap On The Trail

Day 37

Saturday April 29, 2017

Mile: 318.2 - 331.6

Hiked to Spivey Gap

Weather: 86 degrees. Hot and Sunny

Sleeping at Basecamp

Back on the trail after a double zero. We had the luxury of slack packing again. It was an easy 13.4 miles up and over the mountains. With that said the last 2 miles of the day no matter how easy are so slow and painful. The body just wants to quit. We traversed a beautiful bald today. It was even larger than Max Patch. Just as we descended back to tree line Batman pops out. He hiked in south to meet us like he does when he can. He continued to the Bald and Shortcake and I kept moving forward. We waited for Batman at the shelter where we all had lunch together before hiking out the 6 miles together back to the car.

It was another uneventful day. They are common on the trail and it could be very easy to become bored. But we don't. Shortcake and I pay attention to the details to keep things exciting. We love the flowers, insects, birds and the trees. It's fun to notice how they grow differently at varying elevations. Big mighty trees that grow 60-70 feet at 3,000 feet work hard to stretch their branches a mere 25 feet at 5,000 feet. Another form of entertainment is bodily noises. It's amazing how the food we eat on the trail reeks havoc with our systems whether it's bleching or noises from the back door. After day 2 we stopped saying excuse me. We each said one final one and said it was for the duration of the hike. There is just no way to be polite about it. So we laugh and we laugh hard. You'd think we were immature 12 year old boys. I won't go into detail, I am sure you can imagine the sounds we produce. All is fun and games until the silent deadly ones escape and engulf the poor sole who walks into its plume. But that's just another part of life on the trail. Happy Hiking.