Day 2 The Trail Provides

Wylie shelter to Mt Algo Shelter

12.9 AT miles today- 18 total miles

Duell Hollow Creek bridge was washed out and we were supposed to take the road detour but we were not paying attention and missed the detour.  Creek crossing is Knockerz biggest fear.  The crossing was not dangerous even with the rain that fell last night. Knockerz conquered that fear with pride today.

Today’s trail blessing: I was so alarmed at our pack weights that on our 10^th and final repack I removed an ounce of paracord and plastic connectors.  I wished I had kept them when setting up on the tent platform last night. I needed a few more feet of cord. Today I found some paracord. The trail does provide.

Big climb for us out of route 55 crossing. It’s a warm day in the 90s. There are a few bugs but not too bad. It’s been overcast today threatening to rain.

We got lots of good energy on day 2 and trudge onward to Kent. We definitely packed our fears which I’m sure is a common newbie mistake but we got to lose some pack weight soon.

Got FOMO today. I passed a water cache at a road crossing. I’m still figuring out how much water to carry. Since I had a full liter and was about to do a big climb, I didn’t think I needed the water and that maybe someone else did so I bypassed it. I then looked on Farout and saw the next water source was 2.5 miles and thought I should have grabbed some water. This FOMO made me realize this lesson is just like life. You have an opportunity and you pass it by. Later you think you should have seized that opportunity but it’s gone so you must look forward and continue down the trail of life. On up the climb we went.

On the backside of the long climb the trail split to a light blue blaze trail. I was laging behind and trying to catch up to Knockerz.  A quarter mile past the trail split I asked a SOBO if they had seen someone I described liked Knockerz. Nope. I saw some fellow NOBOs and told them if they see Knockerz to tell her I backtracked and will find my way to the next shelter where I will meet her.  So I backtracked up hill and took the light blue blaze trail.

We have a distinctive hoot call we use to find each other in the woods so called out that hoot repeatedly with no reply. Finally I received a reply hoot from off in the distance down a slope.  Knockerz realized something wasn’t right about the trail she was on even though there were diamond shaped signs saying Appalachian Trail.  The signs were markers for Appalachian Trail Conservancy Lands and were confusing combined with the light blue blazes that almost looked white.  Reunited we reversed engineered what went wrong and how to prevent it in the future before marching on towards Kent.

As I hike during day 2 I find it  interesting that all my old injuries are making themselves known. Feet arch pains, twisted ankle injury, Achilles tendon injury.  All my old injury pals decided to wake up and join my hike. Im hoping these new friends decide to leave the trail after a few more miles. We will see.

A nasty storm threatened to catch us. Winds blew hard and rain came roaring down. My weather app showed we were going to get the worst of it but just as it was about to get really nasty it decided to go north of us. The skies cleared as we approached the shelter and set up quickly before crashing hard for the night. God is good