Day 154 – Mile 1166.7 + 253.6: Beautiful hike up to Max Patch after making new friends – Smokes, Tangerine, Penny, Patchy, Levi, Lakes, Soup and Mike.
Then came a delivery of Asheville’s best burger – Farm Burger and salad to Max Patch by Hopscotch! Followed by day-hiker, Joy, offering fresh fruit and trail magic massages to some of the thru-hikers. Sunset and moonrise.
Not a bad day but the wind which followed left much sleep to be desired… #friendsbringfriendstownfoodtothetrail
Day 155 – Mile 1166.7 + 173.5: 20-mile day on very little sleep because of pounding winds and your tent inverting on you a few times during the night makes for a grumpy day๐
However, pulling into the Laughing Heart Hostel in Hot Springs, NC, to be greeted by Jeff and offered to join the other hikers to eat the huge fish fry (even though I didn’t plan on staying there), made a somewhat crappy day, excellent!
Sitting across from me at Laughing Heart, I was introduced to Trail Stripper. Now there aren’t too many people that go by Trail Stripper and I knew I had met her before. I asked if she was SOBO and she was! I know the exact power lines I met her under in Massachusetts last year! She was with a guy called I Don’t Know (he is apparently a few days north). She continued SOBO stopping in January and picking back up in March.
Also passed fellow SOBO, Dori @blaze17speed, who started 3 weeks before me in Katahdin and I have been following on Instagram for 7 months(!), coming up out of Hot Springs and I was going in! Nice to meet you finally, Dori!
Then picked up by friend of a friend of a friend, Kevin (what a legend), in Hot Springs and got to stay his cabin and have a day off๐ฅ๐๐
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It’s not how you start, folks – it’s how you finish… over and out!