Day #48 - Epic Trail Magic

Miles: 18.1 to Trimpi Shelter

Today started out being a long day with not much in particular to look forward to. Then I put on my tunes for the first time on this hike and my mood improved dramatically. I started off listening to Ray LaMontagne's new album "Supernova." I really like it! It's much more peppy than his other stuff and have a 60s vibe.

The terrain today was really beautiful. It was open grazing land interspersed with wooded trails and fields of flowers. We could see ponies off in the distance. I stopped for a break on some rocks by the trail with Bluebird and showed her what edible trout lillies look like. We snacked on those for a while. Then we hiked on to Old Orchard Shelter to have first lunch. There, we met two thru-hikers named Swiss Miss and Matterhorn. I think Swiss' legs are skinnier than mine! We also met a former thru-hiker Dog Man and his husky. He's hiking south with his dad this year to get to Trail Days. They told us trail magic was ahead! A trail angel named John was grilling hot dogs and hamburgers. He even had chili for the hotdogs and sliced veggies for the burgers. He also had beer, soda, chips, chocolate, fruit, and so many amazing things! It was the best trail magic we've received yet! Even Bluebird found things she could eat. She put chips and burger toppings and some corn tortillas she had in her pack.

It was HOT this afternoon. No fun to hike in, but the jams helped. We tried to find a campsite by some water but Wing It and I miss the blue blaze indicating the side trail and overshot it. We didn't want to hike back so we stopped and waited for Bluebird when we figured out what had happened. By some miracle, I happened to have my phone on (not in airplane mode like it normally is) and Wing It happened to suggest that we backtrack a bit on the trail. I happened to be in just the right spot to receive service when Bluebird called me to try to figure out why we weren't at the campsite. That truly was a miracle. We told her where we were and she met up with us. We have just enough water to make it to the next water source in the morning. I don't have enough water to cook dinner tonight, but I have other things I can eat. My legs refuse to walk any further today. Tomorrow we are hiking about 13 miles to Marion, VA to get a hotel with Wiki. I can't wait for Arby's and some new sleeping clothes from Walmart! Only a day away!