Day 84: Trail Magic City

Up and out later than we should've been on such a hot day, but so it goes. It was already pretty hot before 10am, but we had 18 miles to go today. Word was out that many of the springs were currently dry, so without trail magic, we all would need to be careful not to run out of water. This meant that we needed to carry a lot. Unfortunately, water is heavy.

I was carrying three liters whenever I filled up. We hiked a few miles before passing a small boy scout troup and entering into a sunny field. We ran into Deetz and Power Pack hiking southbound!! Hey guys!! I hadn't seen them for a while. We all chatted and caught up right in the middle of the sunny field. Looking back, we really should have retreated back into the shade. I think we may have talked out there for 20 minutes! They were hiking south (slack packing!) because they had two cars for two weeks. A pretty good deal. They offered to slack pack me and One Life, too, but we were set on hiking with our packs. Attempting purity...

After our sunny chat session, we parted ways expecting to see each other again at the end of the day at 501. They let us know that there was a cooler with drinks not too far ahead. Yay! We pressed on and found the cooler, but there weren't any drinks left!!?! While we were talking, the boy scouts passed us - would they have taken all the drinks...?

One Life and I were a bit grumpy about missing out on trail magic, but we kept going in the increasing heat. Over a big hill, then down towards I-81, and there was another cooler. It had orange soda! We were happy again, and we took the unopened sodas down to eat our lunch by the stream we could see through the trees by the road. Guess who was there with a car and lots of extra food...... The boy scout troup!



Tracy was the mom of one of the scouts, and her husband, Scott, was one of the leaders. Troup 284 was making our day! They had extra pizza, Gatorade, water, fruit and ICE CREAM! It was awesome. Wayfarer, Rocket, and Sour Dough also got to enjoy the magic. We ate a bunch (and i took the orange sodas back up to the cooler) and then went down to the stream to hop in for a swim. Very nice and cool water, and in this heat, our clothes would be dry in a matter of minutes.. and then sweaty again...




And then back to hiking... Up and up for a steep hour, then lots of rocks along the ridge. It wouldn't have been so bad in the 101 degrees if there was a bit of a breeze, but it was so stagnant and humid.I heard later that it was a record temperature for the area!!?! We finally pushed on to the next shelter, and someone had hiked up gallons of water. Thank goodness! We filled up and hung out for an hour to recouperate from the heat. Snacks and jokes and wanting to be done with hiking for the day.




Then on to the last 4 something miles. It was pretty flat, but rocky, and then we came to a road and the rest of the crew was there. Scatters (who woke up really early to get to a bar to see the soccer game), Tattoo, Power Nap, Wayfarer, Rocket, And Sour Patch. AND the guy who hiked up the water, Slick. He had more cold drinks for us, and chairs and good conversation. We relaxed for a while before tearing ourselves away to complete the last 1.6 miles to get to the 501 shelter. Thanks soooo much, Slick!

The whole crew and more were at 501 shelter (fewer than 1000 miles to Katahdin!!!!!). Deetz and Power Pack had driven in, and they very kindly shared their Gatorade and snacks (bell peppers and carrots! Luxury!!). We set up our tents and lined up at the solar shower. It was cold for my shower, but really nice to clean off. Dinner by the fire (made for bugs, not heat), then into out tents to sleep.

The plan for tomorrow is to try the "hike early to avoid the heat" thing out. We'll see how early we can make it out.
(17.5mi 10st)



-- Posted from the trail...

Location:501 Shelter