Days 80-82: Marathon hiking, marathon eating
Journal Excerpt:
Day 80 - June 6, 17.6 miles, Brown Mt. Creek Shelter Day 81 - June 7, 8.1 miles, Hog Camp Gap Day 82 - June 8, 19.4 miles, Tye River weather: clear, sunny, 80's
I've been lazy in writing the past few days because they've been full days, and I've been getting to camp simply wanting to eat and sleep. I'll give you some recent highlights: on the 6th, Mr. Bunker and I had a long day that ended with us camping near a shelter alongside a nice big stream. Earlier that day, we took a long break watching water cascade down Pedlar Dam. It had a very mesmerizing effect on us.
On the 7th, we had an unintentional short day. We hitched a ride into Buena Vista and went to the Triangle Cafe. We ordered "Daddy's Breakfast," which was the best breakfast I've had on the trail, and perhaps the best pancakes ever. Pancakes, sausage, eggs, toast and hash browns. We stayed there for four hours, simply digesting, recovering, and emptying the huge thermos of coffee our waitress gave us. Our hike was, uh, a bit slow afterwards, due to our stomachs but also the spectacular views. Then we were waylaid yet again by trail magic. A former thru-hiker named Pop was handing out free drinks and fruit and sandwiches. We ended up stopping there around 5 and then never left! A few of us stayed up around the campfire until about 11pm. That's late for us!
Then today, our marathon day. I've done 19.4 miles only once before, and that was over much easier terrain than today. I'm proud of myself. The last mountain of the day was called the Priest. It was gorgeous on top, but the day ended going down the mountain, a seemingly never-ending four mile rocky descent. We've stopped for the night at the Tye River. Archie ran a mile and a half down the road by the river (he's a maniac) to get to a store before it closed. He brought us back all sorts of goodies for dessert and breakfast tomorrow. He rocks. We're spending the night not in our tents, but simply in our sleeping bags out on the big slanted rocks that lie next to the river. There's a halo around the moon, I'm caught up on my journal now, and I need to sleep off 19.4 miles, so good night!