Uplifted By Hikers & Trail Angels (ECT Day 109)

• Hiked Today: 25.6 miles
  • Appalachian Trail (294.8 – 320.4)
• Total Hiked: 2,244.9 miles
• Total Paddled: 99.5 miles

Weather: 60 – 80°F, slightly overcast in early an turning to sunny, humid, and clear. As they would say in Alaska, a “Bluebird day” 😎

Elevation: 2,955 – 4,810 feet

Little Laurel Shelter to Spot North of Sam’s Gap 

I took my time in the morning trying to see if my stomach was healed or if it was still mad at me. At least for the time being, it seemed we were getting along. The rest, rehydration, and pause on massive amounts of food seemed to please it. I had my appetite back too, which is usually a good sign that things are heading back to normal for me. I decided to try coffee and nibble on some cookies to start things off and see how how I reacted.

Not all shelters have a “privy,” but many do. This one had one, but it was small with my knees hitting the door and right close by in sight of everyone haha.

After packing up, visiting the privy, and chatting with some of the other shelter stayers for a bit (including a duo that carries a little Corgi dog on top of the pack), I hit the trail around 8:00 am. I felt loads better than yesterday, although still pretty weak not having eaten in a while. It was kind of hard to tell if that was just the big climb right away though. From the shelter, it was mostly a straight shot up another 1,100 feet in elevation.

Up above 4,300 feet for the next four miles or so, things got bouldery. I met and hiked with Sunshine, another Michigander (from far up in the Northeast Lower Peninsula). We tromped through the rocky terrain together and enjoyed the views looking out and the exposed ridgeline.

It was a really neat section of trail, but some tough, slow-going tricky parts in there. Just before reaching the mile-300 mark of the AT, I parted ways with Sunshine and got into pretty cruisy mode going forward. I was feeling good!

🤭

The top of “Big Butt.” I mean, I suppose if you squint, I could believe this is another one of those buried rock giants that just has its lumpy behind sticking up, mooning us all?

Around 1:00 pm, I took a short break, but mostly just kept it moving today. There were lots of giant trees collapsed and on the ground, but the trail workers had pulled off some miraculous clearing.

After lunch there was a spread out group of 20 young guys and at one point I asked what it was all about. They were from Franklin, TN and part of a discipleship program is all I got. There were some tired looking faces as I’m sure most, if not all, were fresh-legged hitting the AT!

In the afternoon, I’d end up receiving a trio treatment of trail magic. The first experience was an in-person roadside setup hosted by some wonderful folks from Columbia, South Carolina. I believe Kevin and Tammy were their names and their group cheffed up some super delicious pulled pork, coleslaw, and the works, complete with an assortment of barbeque sauces to choose from. They had a spread of random goodies and drinks too. A group of hikers were there already partaking and chatting when I showed up including Burger Man, Avery, Angel, Saint, and Phil and Greg who seemed to be hiking together. A fun time and a wonderful treat. So many kind folks interested in helping us hiker out!

Hiking up the big hill after trail magic, we had to climb from around 3,000 feet to up above 4,500 feet. It was really nice to be in the middle of a hiker train (Avery, Burger Man, Angel, and Phil & Greg) just knocking this serious climb out like no big deal. I would’ve been much slower on my own, but they set a good pace.

The first bit of the climb was going up a ravine with a picturesque cascading stream in a shaded super forest.

Once up high, I hiked and chatted with Burger Man and Avery. This was super nice and made the time go by quickly.

We were all eager to get to the next shelter. Once there, those guys planned to camp, but I went way down the side trail with Avery to get water and then kept going a few more miles. Thankfully after a steep but short uphill, it was mostly downhill to Highway 26 and Sam’s Gap.

Once through the underpass, where the trail heads away from a little parking area there I spotted the second trail magic of the day. It was a cooler left by a 2023 AT hiker called Girl Scout. I was pretty pumped to open it and find ice cold sodas and chips. Great timing to carry out for a little treat at camp, I thought.

Right as I was closing the lid to keep trekking though, an SUV pulled up and a guy shouted out the window, “Trail Magic.” Crazy, right? This was Harold and he was out and about visiting hikers. His car was loaded up with all sorts of goodies and when he offered me a beer, I switched out for that and put the Cherry Coke back. I also couldn’t resist a couple colorful Easter-themed sugar cookies with purple and yellow frosting and sprinkles. Mmm. 

After breaking away from chatting with Harold (it was getting later in the evening), I only continued another half mile or so and stopped at the first flat camp site I came across. 

I got my routine pretty well down at this point, so in no time I was eating dinner and sipping my CL Smoothie 😎. Quite a push today, but I felt good. It was clear to me that I only made the bigger miles because of the camaraderie with the other hikers and trail angels. They didn’t even know it, but those interactions and the solidarity of going towards the same goal, that kept me moving.

If you’ve been enjoying following along, and also want to help kids get access to the outdoors, please help me in supporting Outdoors Empowerment Network! I recently added the “Tip Author” button below that will directly link to my fundraising page. My goal is to raise $2 for every mile I hike on the ECT, so around $12,000! I need your help to reach this goal. In an earlier post titled, “The Outdoors Are For All” I share why I feel it’s so important. Thanks for the support!

Album of the Day:

“21” (2011) – Adele 

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