Week 2: Unexpected Grief

**I might not be able to keep up this exact schedule but if you subscribe to the mailing list it should send an email when I do post

"What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it."

Day 8

Imagine the sun, unimpeded by clouds, burning with vengeance. You’re nearly as exhausted as you’ve ever felt and panting like a dog. You’ve got two miles left to get to camp, one mile up and one down. Over 1,100 feet of elevation to climb. 7 hours of hiking and 2 peaks over 4,000 feet, over 11 miles. Welcome to the hardest part of Georgia, it kicked our asses. That what’s how I felt near the end of today, and after multiple false summits it was hard to keep going. Steve’s watch woke me up at 6am and I flicked on my light above his bed intending to get up but I rolled around for another ten minutes. I pulled the string out from my blister, it seemed to do something idk what. Then I got down and put some neosproen and only after realized a shower would be nice before breakfast. We scrambled to grab our things and out then in our bags while breakfast was made and ready before we were. We had our last chats and laughed with pigpen before we had to rush out of the hostel on time, unsure of when we’d see her again. With our bags loaded into the two cars with other hikers we  signed their garage door and took pictures infront of their dragon wings painted on them. Bill reminds us that the next 17 miles are the toughest part of Georgia… thanks Bill. Our plan is to do 13 of them today. It’s around 8:30 when we reach the trailhead that we got picked up at and we see Tiffany, Pete, Morgan and a couple others we’ve seen around. It’s nothing but straight uphill 1,000 feet with packs the heaviest they’ll be this week. After a couple spots to catch our breath we make it up playing leapfrog with the other hikers. We reach one opening and Steve and the other guys take time lapses of the clouds rolling over distant mountains. We go down and Joe says he feels so good we should go to dicks creek 17 miles from our start. We did feel fresh but we didn’t want to over do it this early having to pay for it later. We get up closer to the next mountain and find a nice spot for a snack. Spence is eager to get rid of his sausage so he cuts it up for us and while we’re having laughs about stupid shit Grace the English girl shows up and takes a break with us. We show her our new topo shoes as she’s weeding some as well. We have dubbed ourselves team topo. Then randomly these two people come walking down towards us covered in blankets to look at the view and Steve says in a hushed voice “I didn’t know there was a monastery up there.” I couldn’t contain my laughter and had to step away. Later Morgan also came up for a little bit then keeps going. Once we get up and going Grace asks to join us. We hike up a ways and see Morgan stopped looking over the mountains then takes a picture of all of us to put on her blog for the trek. A few huffs and puffs later we reach the top and take our well deserved photos. After seeing so many views and going from the bottom to the top of the mountain in quick succession none of it feels real. The other mountains seem so far yet close and distance is slowly becoming an illusion to me; It’s beautiful nonetheless. We eventually reach the first shelter about 7 miles in a stop for water which turns into lunch. We meet a guy named rich while filling up water who’s from Savannah and says it’s quite a nice city. The conversation drifts to St. Patrick’s and I realize that it’s tomorrow! Luckily I have green clothes. Near the end of lunch but before Steve hits the privy Grace decides to keep hiking without us. About a half hour later we make the last push to the next shelter in deep gap just after noon. The temps just keep going up and I feel my skin warming even with Steve’s sunscreen. We start breaking into our own paces and reforming as the miles and elevation wear us down. Before the last climb we fall behind Steve as he keeps pushing forward without stopping. We take a break as a ridge runner “monarch”, someone who hikes the trail In certain regions frequently to keep an eye on conditions, greet us briefly and warns of the last climb to deep gap. We get down to the base and see several people filling water and Morgan taking a rest on a log. Hesitant to take the short hike to water she offers me some of her water so I don’t have to go down there, I accept. Then we hit the trail. They say it’s a mental game and it is. My knee is aching and ankles are tired and I have to keep climbing against my will to stop. My head is down staring at the ground moving beneath my feet at a slower and slower pace. I feel like I’d probably fall down without my poles forced into the sides of the narrow trail. One step and then another, I can only manage baby steps but forward progress means it’ll end at some point. Spence is ahead just in view and Joe’s poles clink against rocks just within my range of hearing. What feels like an eternity passes before we reach the top and see sweet relish and Grace at the top packing up to go down to the shelter. I go up to the first tree I find and lean headfirst into it and just take the deepest breaths I can muster to slow my heart. Grace asks if I’m alright before she heads down and I’m shortly after. Spence catches up to me and so does sweet relish and I talk to him about his work before we turn off trail and head toward the shelter and run into Pete again. We fill up our water and head into camp. I setup my things and find water to dip my feet into and listen to rainbow kitten surprise. Soon Joe comes over and thinks about soaking too but doesn’t and says he stretched and I say I should do the same so I head to the shelter. As I’m stretching I meet a father son pair from the UK. We have a chat about how they’re not used to all the trees and wildlife here. They tell me about all the birds they’ve seen and heard and I’m impressed. They said they’ve never seen a mouse before and are staying in a shelter known to have mice. They later realize this is a bad idea as we find a nice scurrying around after dinner. I made a pot of couscous with some nutritional yeast and Joe’s olive oil and can hardly finish it all. We talk about books with the guys from the UK as the dad is an English teacher. Steve meanwhile has spent most of the evening in his tent quite odd behavior for him, Joe and I go over to his tent to try and discuss a plan for tomorrow and can hardly get anything out of him. We end up planning a simple 8 mile day. Joe get worried about the gusts of 20mpn tonight and puts up his rain fly and I second guess myself but stick without one. I’ve been quite warm and it’s only getting to 46 tonight. The only thing that’s cold are my hands as I type. I miss the warm flat bed of the hostel as I brush my teeth and get into bed.

Day 9

Happy St. Patrick’s. Nobody was leaving early this morning after yesterday’s hike. 7:30 rolled around and when I peaked out of my hammock most people were still hanging around. When I decided to get out I looked to my left and one of the best sunrises yet was pouring out over the mountains red and gold. Joe called over “you see that sunrise?” Yes, I certainly did. I got up and worked on my oatmeal breakfast with powder peanut butter when sweet relish poked it head out and said “is that rain?” Sure enough I held my hands out and felt some drops here and there. I dropped my things and went over to pack up my hammock as quick as I could and it only sprinkled a little before I had it all packed and under the shelter. I moved all my food to the inside of the shelter and finished my oatmeal and started on the Nutella jar. Grace came inside to join and we had a nice chat before we stretched and warmed up. By then most of the people had packed up and left and Steve was making up for skipping dinner last night. So we all sat around and Grace decided to hang around with us and hiked out when Steve packed up all this things; As you could probably guess we were the last to leave. We hiked out of the deep gap and up and up. We reached the top of Powell mountain and headed down through the green tunnels towards Dicks Creek Gap. The rumors of trail magic were real! But I had to stop and take a picture of some flowers. They had a huge tarp tied up to the trees with a bunch of beach chairs setup. Two big white coolers filled with soft drinks and a small blue one with beer. I went to put my pack down by a tree and met a guy named blast, he had a nice curly ended mustache that I complimented. Spence opened up a cooler and I saw a lemonade and grabbed it immediately. I saw Joe eating chips next to me and grabbed myself some. We signed the pieces of cardboard that other hikers had signed and saw pigpen’s name on the Friday section. Joe decided he’s gonna be lost and found after loosing his headlamp and other things. Pete and sideways came rolling up after stopping in town and gave me a small bottle of sunscreen I asked for. Mean Jean and grill master were working on cooking hot dogs, bacon and sausages. I got myself some and put all the condiments on them and didn’t forget the salt. Then I also met Bow tie (Brian), his wife Ansley and their 4 yr old twin daughters Olive and Laney. Their dad was trying to get them to talk to me and the other hikers but they found it more interesting to color in the grass and measure tree trunks with shoe string. They did find it “really silly” when I tossed slices of mandarin oranges into Steve’s mouth, so much so they wanted an encore. I found out they’re from Decatur, GA and work at the hospital. Bow tie thru-hiked in 2010 and was telling us his stories and how he had to navigate with paper and blog on a blackberry. We ended up hanging around for over 2 hours and helped blast with a film he was shooting so we might end up on a YouTube video. Those group of guys showed up just before we left and they said they’d only go a few past the gap to a nearby campsite. We pushed on up the mountain and I realized I forgot my sunscreen back at the gap, don’t tell Pete. I led the pack up that morning and I ended up leading the rest of the day, I was feeling pretty good. Halfway up I ran into whim from Texas but she was headed towards the boarder. I kept pushing. Eventually I ran into Grace taking a quick break with an alright view. We hiked down to the shelter and talked about college/university prices, and what my college experience was like. Pretty soon we turned off toward the shelter and passed the water source. I decided to take a seat at the shelter. I met Water, Data, Badger, and Ash. Badger was from also from the UK and had a black beard with a couple white spots on either sides of his chin. He said everyone is setting up camp behind the shelter but recommended I go the other way there were plenty of spots and he was right. I went around behind the shelter and it was tents all over the place feet from each other. I turned the other way a found a nice spot and setup my hammock and fly without needing any stakes because of all the trees and roots around, it is quite of a tripping hazard. Then I went to go filter some water and drink up before grabbing food to make at the shelter picnic table. I decided on mashed potatoes and peanut butter (separate). Afterwards we stretched and it wasn’t even six yet. I met some people atom and atomic (parents of ash) who were from Jupiter, Florida. I wondered if they knew one of my boat captains in Sitka who was from that area and they said he seemed to look familiar. We had some chats and laughs then one by one turned in for bed. Everything turned to gold for a few moments while writing this and I’m thinking about how I’m roughly 4 miles from North Carolina.

Day 10

I had a decent sleep last night in my own little spot away from everyone else. I think I had some weird dreams but I can’t remember any of them. When I saw Joey he said he had some weird combination of dreams. I went to grab my food from the bear bin and afterwards decided to pack up camp before I ate. Grace decided to get an early start this morning and left before we started eating. Steve ate at his tent and got packed up before I was ready. We got going and my knee starting aching worse than it had the past few days. I got slower and slower and ended up way behind the other guys so far I couldn’t see them. Each step downhill got more and more painful. I had nearly two liters of water and quickly dumped the second out to lessen the weight.  At one point I took a step down and it hurt so much I instantly stopped to take my pack off and take some meds. It didn’t do much for me but I was willing to try anything. I knew I hadn’t twisted or injured my knee so it shouldn’t be a big deal just something to overcome. It was also a cold morning, enough to see your breath and wind that bent the trees. We were going up and up, higher and higher along the ridge. After what felt like forever I saw the guys taking pictures of each other at the NC/GA border. I quietly walked up and joined, taking a couple myself. Then I kept trudging along to the water source and ate what I could and left ahead of the group knowing they’d catch up. This part was just switchbacks along the ridge and after a short while I ran into a lady on a log named Marie taking a break, she wasn’t having a good day. We kept going and the guys passed me by. I haven’t spent this much time alone since that first day before running into Steve again. It was tougher without them there. Your mind play tricks of thinking about quitting, getting off at the next gap and calling a shuttle; anything to stop the suffering. Wondering if I’m actually injured or am I just over working my body. Will the pain go away or is it just going to get worse until I have to get off? What will it be like to hike without my trail family? Would they carry on fine without me?  Will being off trail and knowing I probably won’t be able to hike with them again be more painful than hiking now? I currently don’t know the answer to any of these questions but I can only hope that it’ll get better. We took a break at the muskrat shelter and the pain is unbearable. Spence lets me borrow his ace bandage and I wrap my knee and I take some Advil and Tylenol and eat. They ask if I want to stop or keep going and I don’t know but I know I don’t want to ruin their hike. I don’t want them to go without me but I don’t want them to stay because of me. I say I’ll rest a bit and see how I feel. I decided to push on when the older lady Marie comes into camp drops her pack and says she’s got shortness of breath and is not sure she’ll make it to her shuttle. Spence asks her some questions before she heads to the privy and from my log I can see the unsettling look in his eyes. He’s going through all the possible conditions based on the little information he has, it’s what he does. He thinks it might be a blood clot or something of the sort and anymore stress could be severe. The other guys take some things from her pack and Spence carries the rest so she doesn’t have to hike with it. We only make it a half mile before she decides to call for help. The service is spotty and they get transferred to another county but the calls goes through and help is on the way but not for another 2 hours. She offers to pay for our hostel in hot springs in exchange for the help but we can’t fathom accepting that offer; She’s from Canada and it about to deal with americas healthcare system. With my knee still hurting me and Joey push on to the shelter 5 miles out while Spence and Steve wait with Marie for help. I feel bad for leaving and not being able to help but I accept the situation and hope she’ll be alright. The uphill is alright but the downhill is unforgiving. Eventually we reach deep gap and see a bear alert notice posted. We push on .9 up the mountain to the shelter and all the sites are nearly gone and I can’t find a good spot to hang my hammock so we both end up in the shelter. Everyone else is hiding in their tents trying to stay warm. There is rope hanging from the trees of old bear hangs and we wonder if it’s the bears or people that got them down. I get the weather and I wish I didn’t look. It’s getting to 19F and -1 with wind chill. By far the coldest night.

Day 11

With everything on it really didn’t feel that cold. My feet tend to get cold first but everything else was warm. I did wake up a few times thinking I was suffocating under my sleeping bag. I woke up to Pete and Grace packing up and making breakfast. I just sat up against the wall of the shelter and waited for the sun to get higher in the sky. It was fucking cold. Eventually I had to get up to use the privy and just embraced it. Everything took forever, getting the bear bag, packing up my gear because I had to stop and warm my hands. My water bottles were halfway frozen with water so I had to boils some to melt it. I made some banana nut oatmeal that was so disgusting but I needed to eat. Once we got up and going everyone else was gone and it was around 11am but we’re only going 7.6 miles. I asked Spence to wrap my knee and he did a much better job than I did. We got going and the climb was nice and gentle up standing Indian with a spectacular view ontop where I caught up to the guys. Along the way there was a bunch of ice shooting out of the ground like mushrooms because it was so cold. We were taking pictures at the top and joey nearly dropped his phone down the side of the mountain and Steve said “I wish I had a video of that to send to your wife.” We kept going down the mountain and I remained in the back taking it easy on my knee. Coming down the mountain I caught up to them taking a smack break and saw the older guy tye but without his wife Tammy (remember I met them my first day at Springer). He said they got to ducks creek and she had a pain in her Achilles flair up so she’s resting while the continues solo. It was a little sad to see him by himself, I’m sure he misses her and wishes she was still there with him. We kept going downhill and unlucky me took a step down and rolled my ankle so that’s great. I saw the guys again talking to a thru-hiker named sunny with her big yellow hat. She said there was a decent water course up ahead so we forged onward and it was true. It was nearly swimable. Steve got his phone out and was taking all kinds of videos and pictures “there’s a cinematic mode on here somewhere that makes it look all cinematic and nice.” And while Steve was going to fill up his water he slipped and his whole foot went in. He must be cursed by the water. He’s all on about his good karma with his “Jesus parking,” a step up from rockstar, and never cracking his phone screen but streams are his kryptonite. With only 2.5 miles left to the shelter I put on my headphones to make the climb up a little more fun. The Carter gap shelter is nice but surrounded by dead trees and nobody was certain about setting up camp with projected 30mph gusts tonight. North Carolina doesn’t have any bear boxes or cables either so we have to hang our food, no wonder there’s a bear alert. As we walk around you can see remnants of old bear hangs just like the last shelter. Once we decided we’d do 12 miles to the next shelter and get into town on Thursday and stay through Friday so we looked for hostels. We tried to get the 4 beds at at Chica and sunsets’ but they only had one available. They referred us to the grove and that’s where pigpen is staying tonight funny enough and we were able to get beds there. We also got an update from Marie; she got to the hospital and Spence’s guess was right she had a blood clot in her lung and getting her help probably saved her life. Joey, Spence and I decided to hunker down in the shelter again and Steve was set on sleeping in his tent because “he doesn’t do shelters.” To his credit norovirus is no joke but if it’s just us then he decided to stay in the shelter right before the other Joey tried to get a spot with us. But then decided to take Steve’s camping spot. Joey starting stripping and hanging his clothes on the trees singing “oh stripmas tree, oh stripmuas tree.” We made dinner and realized the other group of guys (jack, Aaron, Joey etc) are also staying at the hostel we are but just on Friday. Jack said he’s gonna start upping his mileage soon tho so we might not see him after this. It seems like mostly everyone else went ahead to Betty’s creek but I did see red maple come by the shelter to use the privy I told her is over that way and you might see an old creepy guy talking to his wife (Joey). It really was the best service at the privy, I had 3 bars at one moment. The sunset was also so beautiful we’re actually higher than blood mountain and could see it way off in the distance, it seems so far away now. We got out bear bags hung and now were laughing ourselves to sleep like in the hostel quoting Airplane! and Monty python.

Day 12

The days are long and short. Every night as I lay down to type I just can’t fathom how many days it’s been. We woke up together with the shelter to ourselves and then laid in bed and waited for it to be warm enough to use our hands (i should’ve brought gloves). Time kept ticking by talking about things unimportant but entertaining. It was passed ten when we started shuffling about and trying not to get dust everywhere. When someone dropped something on the dust covered floor, a curse word would follow shortly after. I’m so glad that the father and son from the UK showed up again to our campsite yesterday because he had an extra knee brace he wasn’t using! He kindly gave it to me so Spence could have his ace bandage back. I put it on this morning and it isn’t the best but it’ll do the job for sure. Then crow and mangy moose shows up to have a quick stop at the privy, man that moose guy is funny. Then badger and his wife data showed up for lunch. I was talking to badger after I brushed my teeth and had everything nearly packed. I know we’re kinda in a rush with over 12 miles to go and it nearing 12 o’clock. I found out his name is also Spencer, was a combat medic and thru-hiked the AT back in 21’ (started in April). He’s back on the AT thru-hiking with his wife because he enjoyed it so much we wanted to do it again with her. I asked him what his favorite parts were and he told me a few but reminded me that I’ll find my own favorite places and it just keeps getting better the farther you go. Even though I’ve been hearing that, I needed to hear it again. We also had a stop in from the tooth fairy! (He’s a traveling dentist; don’t tell the children) While Steve started applying his thick coat of zinc sunscreen I decided to get a head start since I was the slowest. It wasn’t long after when the rest of the guys caught up to me and we stopped at a small stream to fill up and decided to have lunch at the fire tower. We got into some more of the green tunnel and up along the ridge line but it was super flat and it felt like a magical world under the pure blue sky. I saw the double blue blaze marking a view and saw Spence and Joey admiring the Smokey view. Another gentleman was sitting down off to the side admiring the view too and I decided to do the same. We kept on moving out of the tunnel into the open forrest winding down the sides of the mountain and I caught up to joey and Spence again at the bottom of our next climb taking a snack break. Steve shows up and all sassy asks if we’re doing lunch now or what and we get a move on. We’re about two miles out from the fire tower and I’m looking around for it but just don’t see it. I end up behind Steve and he’s taking a slower pace today and then Glenda up off trail a little bit and lands on a small rotted post sticking out of the ground and rolls his ankle.. he mutters something under his breath and keeps going but I notice his limp and that’s when I realize it’s not good. I keep behind him but it’s only up and steep. He’s taking it really careful as we chat and slowly make it up the mountain. We go down a little bit and then it comes into view, the Albert mountain fire tower. We’re at the bottom of the mountain tho and we’re looking up at this 400+ feet of ascent over 0.2 miles. Steve takes a few photos with his google pixel and I push ahead ready to see the top. I pass the tooth fairy, chuck norris, and crow before I reach the top. I get to the tower and give a cheer before throwing my pack down to get up to the top of the firetower (FRTR! Even tho the alpha code would be FITO, Sarah S., but FRTR has a better ring to it and I got the guys to say jt). The inside is closed to prevent vandalism but the view is still spectacular with a 360 degree view. Once Steve makes it up we all take our pictures as this also signifies the 100 mile mark! Just an unreal feeling. Planes fly that far in minutes, cars drive that far in hours, people run that far in days, I walked it in over a week. We had lunch with the dark-eyed juncos hopping about and I laid down under the tower to watch the clouds fly by. Steve’s concern for his ankle wasn’t going away and was constantly asking for advice and reassurance. He took some pain meds with lunch before we headed back down. We waited to see his pace and it wasn’t quick. We’d keep going and then I’d catch Joey and Spence waiting again. Before the next uphill portion Spence wrapped his ankle with the ace bandage and we kept moving not sure where we’d end up. At the next shelter we filled up water and Steve decided to keep going to our original shelter at rock gap. I hung back with him a little bit and told him how I felt about my knee and how alone I felt that day it really hurt and they all felt great. I tried to remind him to not worry and think logically which he does but he didn’t really want to listen to me so I kept walking. I saw Spence and Joey waiting again and they let Steve lead the rest of the way. The air smells of smoke and it’s a bit hazy from what we think is a nearby controlled burn which lead to a nice sunset when we reached camp. There wasn’t much left when we got here so Steve is cowboy camping outside next to my hammock. We found limbs to hang out bear bags had a quick dinner and reconvened with Steve about tomorrow’s plan. With his tone it sounded like there was only one plan which to him was obvious; hike 0.1 miles to the closer gap instead of 3 to the next gap because of the 10:30 pickup time. We only hope that all our pain gets better because that’s all we can do.

Day 13

So of course I wake up to the birds chirping beautiful sunrise and I hear Steve packing up behind me. I get up and turn around and he’s got his shoes on ready to go and I ask “so what are we doing” and he says “we’re going to winding stair gap.” (The one that’s 3 miles away instead of 0.1) I’m like “so we’re pushing then?” And he says “we’re not pushing it’s just 3 miles, the other day when Spence and I had to get back to the shelter before dark that was pushing, this isn’t pushing.” I’m like “okay…” so then then I tell Joey we’re going to winding stair and he says “oh seeing pushing?” And I’m like “no don’t say that Steve doesn’t like that word we’re just walking farther.” So Steve is packed up ready to go like we made this decision hours ago but we all just woke up at 7:30 expecting to take it easy and only go the 0.1 so we start scrambling to get our stuff packed up so we don’t miss the 10:30 shuttle. I hobble down the steep campsite and down across to the beanbags and pull mine down and then start taking down my hammock. Steve is like “where’s my bear bag?” And I’m like “well I didn’t get yours because Spence was worried about it getting tangled up.” And he’s like “well that’s all I need to pack up and I’ll get going.” So I call down to Spence who just started taking down his tent “can you get Steve’s bear bag or do I need to?” He says “well could you?” So I go back down the hill and over to the bag and joeys like “I believe in you.” Luckily I had no problem got the bear bag and Steve was on his merry way. Then I pack up as quick as I can and Spence and I don’t leave until 8:30 with nearly 4 miles to go and over 600+ of elevation we need to keep at least a 2mph pace to catch the shuttle. Meanwhile Joey is still packing up his hammock as we’re booking it out of there. I don’t even think about taking an easy pace I’m trying my best to keep up with Spence to hope we make it on time. We make it down to the rock gap .1 miles down and this guy named lightning asks if we need a ride to town and we say no but he proceeded to tell us about his whole life story. When he finally gets the message we get back to walking, 3.7 miles to the gap. We’re moving quick and cross a road and then it goes up, and up and then there steps and more steps. This is no cake walk. Finally we get near the top and have to strip our fleece layers even though it was cold enough to not feel my fingers at camp. Shortly after we catch Steve and after a couple minutes he asks if we wanna pass him and he lets us through. There’s a nice view so we climb up for a short look and see the road down below we have to get to in less than an hour with over 2 miles left. It’s downhill from here, literally, so our pace quickens and after some switchbacks and a stream crossing I can hear the semi trucks racing by. We take a few more stairs down to the road and get to the gap and see jack and cartoon pot also waiting for the same shuttle and it’s 9:45. We aren’t there for long when an old Volkswagen PNW pulls up and we think it’s our shuttle but it’s just some guy stopping through to fill up his water at the spring. Then this black jeep shows up real quick and they ask if we’re thru-hiking and we say yeah. Then they get out and introduce themselves, lady shoes and altitude and tell us they did trail magic yesterday at woody gap and had left overs so they offered us some! Donuts, apples, bananas, oranges, electrolytes, bandages. It was wonderful. Then nofilter showed up who was the owner of The Grove hostel. He took jack and cartoon into town and by then Joey had arrived so we decided to wait for the next ride. His wife newfound (like newfound gap) picked us up in her car that must’ve been set to 100 degrees inside but at that point even with my down jacket I didn’t care I was just happy to be getting into Franklin. Newfound was telling us about her hiking history, about the hostel and the town and Steve asked about the local emergency rooms to get an X-ray for his foot with Spence’s advice. We pulled up to the hostel on a hill which was a quaint orange home with lots of hiking shoes outside. Newfound told us the rules of the house and we got inside and Spence and I took the upstairs private room and Joey and Steve took the downstairs. Downstairs was a cool hangout lounge area with a big 2024 AT signage wall, several bathrooms, showers, brand new laundry machines, big orange couch and several bunks. We found the hiker box and rummaged through it but didn’t find anything useful really. We lounged around for a while and I went up to my room to unwind and talk to some friends. Steve found an emergency room to go to and hey baby momma who’s staying here for a while also because of an injury dropped him off. Joey, Spence and I ended up going into town to check out the hiker 76 outdoor store. Walking in town down Franklin was. Nice they had a big AT poster with signatures and we signed our names. Then Spence got the text message we never wanted. Steve had two fractures in his ankle… 6 week recovery… his hike was done. We stood there speechless rubbing our faces with our hands in disbelief. One step in five million and it was over, like that. It took us a few minutes for it to sink in before we kept walking to the store. I immediately texted him and said I heard the news and was so sorry. We’d been hiking together since the start nearly and now I wouldn’t hike with him again for who knows how long. Sure he was a little stubborn and annoying at times but I’ll truly miss hiking and spending time with him. He brought energy and sarcasm to the trail that made it more fun. We’ll miss you Steve. We walked around signed the class of 2024 poster and then headed to the back because the store also had a bar in it! I saw Spence and Joey back there both already drinking a beer and talking to chickadee. So I thought what the hell I’ll get a drink and the endless river was really good, highly recommend. I saw the other posters for previous classes and was looking for Sarah’s name on the 2022 class but couldn’t find it so I called her during class but she didn’t remember. I sent the pictures and she did end up finding it. It’s so cool to think of all the people that have passed through this town over the years and how I’ve crossed paths with a special few like Sarah. Then I saw they had a cheerwine ale so I had to get it and Joey got one too while Spence went to try on shoes. Chickadee was telling us about the pain in her calf and the bartender who’s seen it all was telling her it’s the shoes and she’s pushing too many miles too soon. After two beers and nothing to eat except a breakfast bar, Joey and I were feeling buzzed. It seemed like forever and we hadn’t seen Spence, later we found out he tried on like 4 pairs of shoes and it had been like over an hour since we got there. I got a foam sit pad and another fuel canister. Then we marveled at the giant AT map at the front that documented someone’s journey from start to finish for too long. When we finally made it out we asked Steve if he wanted to come out for dinner. He said the hostel owners could give him a ride when they got back so we meandered over to the lazy hiker bar and got a pizza while we waited. We went inside and an old guy told us to sign another sign by the restrooms and so we did and on each one today I wrote just Steve because at least he made it this far. I also saw pathfinder and underneath wrote “cartoon pot.” Then we turn around and who is it? It’s Tiffany! We hadn’t seen her since blue mountain nearly a week ago and we thought we left her in the dust but she caught up. Then I look over and it’s snack size walking over from the bar with new girl! It was like a family reunion. Then our buzzer was going off for our pizza and Steve was saying he was waiting at the restaurant so we hauled ass up to the joint and he was standing there in his crutches and boot :( We got inside and had some good food and good laughs and Steve covered the bill for us which was nice. We took a ride back to the hostel and Steve was disappointed that we didn’t get shit done because we planned to resupply today so we could rest tomorrow. We hung out downstairs while Steve went through his camera roll with us and unfiltered was doing pack shakedowns for the other guys. Then newfound came down at 9:30 to remind us it was time for bed. We gotta wake up at 7:15 for the creepy white van to take us to the Baptist church for free pancakes!

Day 14

So Spence and I wake up to our 7 o clock alarms and I came to the realization that I just got the 7 days of REM sleep I was missing in one night. Spence said one of them must’ve been about soccer because I was kicking like mad for a little bit. We get out and get ready but don’t see the shuttle outside so we sit at the small table upstairs talking to newfound about the trail and she’s showing us pictures of rocksylvenia and the rattlesnakes. Just as she realizes the shuttle is on the other side of the house it pulls away, so she says she’ll just drive us down. Steve decided to stay home since he’s vegan and ther wasn’t much for him. We get down to the church and make our way instead to get our free breakfast. A bunch of friendly faces are already there to greet us as we grab a plate of pancakes, bacon, and egg sausage casserole. Loaded up with syrup and butter and a spread of homemade jellies and butters. After a quick prayer and speech from the sermon we dig in and catch up. They even gave us all notes to mail out to anybody we wanted. It was a little overwhelming to me, the love and care these people put into the food and hospitality for people just passing through. It’s truly something special to be a part of that’s hard to put to words. I try to wipe the tears out of my eyes before Pattie takes my picture to put with the letter I’ll send. I get a second plate to make up for any calories I didn’t get on trail and take a look at the posters of names from every class since 2008 that has been served by these same people. We head out, again nearly the last people to leave (what’s new) and right as we get into van they people inside are coming out bringing joeys jacket that he left. We get back to the hostel and give Steve some apples slices (how about them apples) and a banana, he eats the banana. While we were at the church Spence said swimming was good for the joints and wood help him recover after hikes so he asked if there was a community center in town and Pattie said there was. So we inquired and found out it was only $16 for the day, well worth the visit. So soence, Joey and I got a ride from newfound up to the center. It was really nice actually you wouldn’t have guessed we were in a small town. We made accounts and goofed around as we did and he ladies at the counter liked us so much they gave us a discount. The indoor pool are was quite nice with a couple lanes and a whirlpool! We grabbed kick boards and swam some laps, floated, treaded water then hit the heated whirlpool, which was basically a hot tub. The only other people there were the older ladies getting ready for their aquatic aerobics class. When the instructor came in she snapped at Joey for leaning against the jet and making it shoot out the overflow. She really killed his vibe after that. Once we were warmed up enough we got back in the pool to cool off a bit. When Joey got in the instructor snapped at him again for getting in the lane that was apparently reserved for the class. The three of us shared a lane and then Joey said “you know what I’m gonna join in on the class.” So he did and not long after so did Spence and I. The instructor noticing starting instructing us on the moves and we gained her respect. We went to the deep end and she asked our names and we told her we’re hiking the trail. The instructor, Connie, played Chris Stapleton and Eddie Rabbitt among others while we exercised. At the end of the class she told the rest of the ladies our names and where we were from and that we were hiking and they gave us a warm applause and wished us luck. We got into the whirlpool one more time before heading to the changing room only then realizing we had now towels to dry off. We got into the sauna to dry, took cold showers, got into the sauna again and then used hair and hand dryers to dry off. The smoothie bar was a amazing and the barista said the best think about Franklin is the community and ability to quickly go out to the mountains but the worst part was the people moving here and treating it like Florida. She topped off our smoothie for free while we waited for the heated water jet massage chairs. Then we got picked up again this time with Steve to get lunch at Gracious plates on main. As we pulled up I saw Tiffany walking down the street and flagged her down to join us for lunch. We definitely paid our pretty penny’s but that was some damn good farm to table food. We walked across the street to the hiker 76 outfitter so Steve could get the experience then took the shuttle to ingles… don’t worry we didn’t spend another 2 hours. We got enough food and the some, experienced a quick power outage as the storm rolled settled in for tonight and grabbed $6 Chinese food dinner. Other groceries stores take notes. Unfiltered dropped some people off and we took the ride back in. Organized our food bags, opened containers, reduced weight, made windscreens with Steve’s help, ate dinner all while watching Airplane! In the background. When I peeked into Joey room and saw all the food I could tell how much he loved his wifeI talked to hey baby momma about her time in Maine as a social worker and how she wish we traveled before she settled down. Her favorite hike is Katahdin btw and has done it several times. She recently did mountain Washington this summer in the rain and brought pool floaters to inflate and wear at the top for a funny picture. Jack and cartoon pot came back from the bar and dropped off some marshmallows in bags that chickadee made. Soon enough 9:30 rolled around and the lights were off. I really haven’t given it a ton of thought because I’ve been trying to savor every sarcastic moment with Steve and all of us together. Now I’m tearing up thinking about saying goodbye tomorrow and how different it’ll be without him. He’s that person that you kinda get annoyed by but you love him because he makes you laugh and smile it doesn’t matter. He can make any situation a good one and anyplace a home. We’re gonna miss you Steve.. our hearts will hurt but grow stronger in time, one day they’ll be as strong as yours.

Left to right: Tiffany, Me, Spence (nightwatch), Joey (Style), Steve (Just Steve/Google)