Day 30

"So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains."

Today I slept in, my body needed it I guess! Lynn came to my tent at 9:00 and said they were heading out (I was still in my sleeping bag haha) I took my time and got on the trail at 10:15. There was a lot of uphill to start off, the rest was not bad-I took my time and didn't rush to catch up. I saw Rocky's smiling face he said Lynn was about 30 min ahead of me (which in rocky time means more because he is hiking in the opposite direction of us) I caught them around 12-12:30 and we headed up the bald for lunch. It. Was. So. Hot. It was almost pass out worthy hiking up there. All I could think about was making Gatorade when I got up there. I pressed on, dropped Blue Bitch and made my Gatorade. The wind up there felt amazing! We relaxed, ate, and relaxed some more. Trying to light a jetboil on top of the bald was near impossible, I blockaded it with my pack and Korey helped me with his zippo and we made fire! A woman and child came up to us and told us they were section hiking and she was homeschooling him. The grandmother's trail name was teacher and the 6th grader was Snacktime. We sat and talked with them awhile and age asked if there was anything we needed, I took a bottle of water to take some afternoon Advil and Korey and Lynn took Gatorades. Teacher was telling us how Snactime makes these packages for hikers with a bead that he wood burns the AT logo into-I was intrigued! She said she may have 2 left in the car so we left our packs and followed her down. She gave Korey a Sawyer filtration system since he had been using drops and gave Lynn an apple-they really are great people! Watch out grand kids, Nana is planning her curriculum. As we descended down the bald the wind died out and the dead heat set back in. Once we got back into the woods it was an easy stroll-Now I know what section Bill Bryson was referencing with his book title! It was so pretty and leisurely. We decided to push on to the shelter making the day a 13.1! The shelter was up 1.2 miles which I didn't mind I just huffed through it. It is nice to stroll in not miserable! The water was a little ways away and not the greatest; but after my nightly chores I sat and talked with 3 section hikers 2 brothers and a cousin. One named Dave is from PA and lives right on the trail, I'll have to remember when I'm up there! We left the shelter to the section hikers and Lynn and Korey tented with me! High mileage days don't have to be miserable days! Happy Cinco De Mayo-and happy birthday Justin!