Day 39
Today started out to be an awesome day. Our first real climb was only 0.25 miles away so we had a short warm up before we got going. I woke up last night with some killer cramps in my legs, but I was feeling much better this morning. It was only 5 miles to the road crossing, so when we got there we had a decision to make: keep hiking or go the half mile to Trent’s Grocery for mini resupply and greasy grill food. Nokey made the call that since we’re on the AT we should just go and have fun, so we “yellow blazed” to Trent’s (when you walk the road). We met Wall-e and Brownie there an had hamburgers and chili cheese fries, sodas, chocolate milk, and Debbie cakes before heading back to the trail. From here, there was a 2.7-mile walk to Dismal Falls, which was 0.3 miles off trail. We packed in a 6-pack and went down to the falls. After hanging out for about 2 hours and swimming, we decided to take a Nero at the falls. The whole group other than Dirty Girl showed up and we had a huge party of hikers, about 12 of us chilling there. There was a parking lot across the creek and some locals took a few hikers back to Trent’s for more provisions. It was a blast hanging out and swimming, taking an unexpected Nero. The photo is of me taking the “yellow blaze” to Trent’s.