Stretch—Days 28 to 36

May 12

Day 28: 8.4
Mostly hung around uncle Johnny’s getting things done and drying out wet gear. Made it back on trail to a campsite and had a weird rash on my legs. I’m not sure what caused it so I took Benadryl but that only made my hike sluggish. I was able to spend some time at the campfire and then I fell into a deep sleep.

$8.50 Second Breakfast, $2 Emergency Poncho $12.50 shipped home frogg toggs poncho, pants and thermoball jacket

Day 29: 17.8

Molly got sick last night and we’re currently rooting for food poisoning and not norovirus. She seemed to be okay during the morning so I think we can be optimistic. Today I chose to hike alone for the first time in a while and it was really great to decompress with some time to myself.

Day 30: 15.5 mi

Relaxing hike today. Went over a few balds and got to talk trac and running with Fonzi. I stayed at the Overmountain shelter with an incredible view.

Day 31: 9.2 mi

Made it out of the woods with help of trail magic pancakes and eggs from Flat Foot and a ride from Rockefeller to Trail Days. I got to see so many people from the first few days on the trail and proceeded to drink.
$9 beer, $6 food, $5 tent city

Day 32: 0 mi

Got chores done like take a shower and get my laundry in. Spent time going to the vendors and seeing what’s around. Finally met Zach! I did the parade and proceeded to drink a bunch again. It was definitely great to catch up with some familiar faces and to meet some people ahead of me. Trail days was a great stop, seriously, I got to pet so many dogs.
$35 joined the ATC, $8 resupply, $5 donations

Day 33: 8.8 mi

Woke up sluggish from a great night with little sleep, then made my way to find food. Rides worked out well and my group made it back to the trail. I did a super fast pace getting there (especially considering the dehydration from drinking) and I did almost 9 miles in 3 hours. I’m looking forward to seeing what can do on all the flatter areas coming up.
$10 breakfast, $7 lunch

Day 34: 21.1 mi + 3.5 mi McDonalds Blazing

Things seemed to have shifted since Trail Days. At first we were hiking to the party and now we’re making our way to Maine. Meat Stick, formally Huck, decided he wanted to do about 10 more miles and separate from the group. Dirt Face hasn’t been feeling well and needed more rest and a doctor and Freestyle wanted time to himself so I chose to follow him on a long day and to some McDonalds. I’m definitely ready for some bigger miles so this aligns well with what I want to do.

On our hike, Meatstick and I got caught in the rain and dealt with a cold storm. After throwing up a tarp and waiting it out, we barely had enough time to set up camp
$7 McDonalds, $15 resupply

Day 35: 19.1 mi

Meatstick got sick in the early morning which really started to worry me. I just had to leave Dirt and now Meatstick seemed to be sick as well. He ended up being okay to hike on and we waited out what we thought it was. After waiting out the rain and many stops we made it to camp and proceeded to eat multiple dinners.

Day 36: 26.5 mi

After a rough morning, eating all my food and some pain we made it to Damascus. Where there’s a will, there’s a way… to get a burrito. Well two of them.
$18 burritos, $10 hostel tenting