Pinhoti Trail Days 15 & 16:

Miles hiked: 29.09 miles

Day 15:

This morning it was around 35-40 degrees when I woke up, making it the coldest morning on trail so far.

But I had a good sized climb to start off the day so I warmed up quickly. Once the sun came out it turned into a great day.

My body felt surprisingly great after yesterday. Just about all of the soreness that I felt last night has subsided. 

The trail was pretty cruisy after the first climb of the day. We all stopped and took some breaks together. Then we entered into an ATV park for about 8 miles.

It was a Saturday so there were tons of people out riding. While taking a break at a shelter I wound up talking to three guys who were out riding ATVs. They were blown away by what I was doing. They couldn’t wrap their minds around the fact that I’m waking to Maine. And one guy especially was baffled that I was doing it solo.

A lot of people stopped to talk to throughout the day. And everyone was really nice. I was surprised to see the ATVs even yield to us while crossing the road.

Later on in the day a group of guys stopped us all to talk. The funny thing was that they already knew of me via word of mouth. The other guys I met earlier must have been talking about me. I guess I’m ATV park famous now.

Towards the end of the day there was one final big climb and then the trail rolled into camp. But before I reached camp I crossed the Alabama/Georgia border. 178 miles completed in Alabama. I’ve completed my first of 15 states I will hike on this Bama➡️Baxter hike. One down, fourteen to go.

I got to camp around 4pm and got situated. We all pushed miles today to get to a shelter for the night. I did 19 miles which was one of my longer days once again. I was so glad that we camped at a shelter because it’s going to pour rain tonight and tomorrow morning

Then I made dinner and hung out with everyone. I did my stretching and exercise routine. Then we called it a night. There’s nothing quite like falling asleep in a shelter with new friends. Especially on a rainy night.

 

Day 16:

It dumped rain last night on and off and I felt so grateful that we pushed miles and made it to a shelter.

On top of that, I crossed into Georgia yesterday. So the time moved forward as I left Alabama. And then over night last night it was daylight savings. So the time moved ahead 2 hours overnight pretty much. Waking up at 8am to it still being dark out was quite a trip.

It was still raining when I woke up so we all slept in for a bit. Then decided to pack up and tough it out. And to my delight, the rain slowed to a halt as the morning went on. The trail was a flooded mess and there was a small river to ford across. But all in all the morning was much better than expected.

By 12:30pm I reached the final stretch of the “trail”, a road walk into Cave Springs. Along the way a gorgeous dog ran across the road and was so social and loving. The dog followed us down the road for a while and was running in and out of the street. Fortunately a neighbor noticed and brought the dog into their yard.

While continuing along the road after that it became clear that the dog hadn’t been covered in mud. No, rather the dog had been covered in cow poop. And the dog rubbed itself all over me. As you might imagine I smelt pretty bad  

Luckily we were close to the Hearn Inn where we were staying the night. Callie at the Hearn Inn got us situated and then a shower and laundry were in order for sure. Arguably it was still worth it because the dog was so darn cute.

After getting situated I headed to lunch with Jinx, Mule, and 5 Pounds. The one local joint that was open was really good too. Then we all just had a relaxing rest of the day. Cave Springs is an adorable town in Georgia, and my first town in Georgia!

Later on we all wound up eating at the same place for dinner as we had for lunch. It was just as good the second time. Then back at the inn we all called it a night.