I had a good breakfast at the only diner in town that morning and headed out on the trail. The trail passes directly through the town of Hot Springs. It’s a small town, a resident told me that there were only 500 people living there according to the last census, but she felt there were less now, people move away and turn their homes into vacation rentals, she told me. Hot Springs is an iconic stop for AT thru hikers. The town caters to hikers, bikers, and vacationers. It’s a beautiful little village nestled up in the mountains. The Laughing Heart Hostel and Lodge are located at the trailhead coming into town. I stayed there the last two nights. I felt rested that morning.

The climb out of Hot Springs was steep, ascending 4000 feet in the first four miles. The climbing was strenuous but not nearly as tough as coming out of the NOC in Georgia or Fontana Dam into the Smokies. The trees are a lot more leafed out here as opposed to the Smokies, spring was definitely in full swing.

I walked along the bank of a pond created long ago by damming up a ravine that must have a spring at the upper end. There were fish jumping all over that pond. I decided to get a fishing pole at my first opportunity when I was in a town next. I would also get some foil and an onion to carry in my pack so I could roast the fish on the fire if I was lucky enough to catch some. I hoped to get some fishing gear as soon as possible.

After that initial climb, the hiking smoothed out as I walked along the ridge lines. There were a few more 400 and 500 foot climbs then ridge line hiking to the shelter. I took a short detour to hike up to Rich Mountain Lookout Tower. The views were awesome, it was definitely worth the .3 mile detour.

I arrived at the shelter and “did my chores” as we call it, set up my tent, filtered water, blew up my air mattress and cooked my dinner. It was a great day of hiking. The wind started blowing and a few drops of rain fell. Rain was definitely a strong possibility in the forecast the next day.

Resupplied, updated my blog, ate some real food. Restful day. Never did go to the actual Hot Springs. Reportedly they pipe the hot springs into hot tubs and you can sit in them for $25.00 a person. The thing that stopped us from going was they were located about two miles from the Laughing Heart Hostel and Lodge where we were staying. We just weren’t willing to walk that far.

There were a lot of hikers I hadn’t seen in a while at the hostel. We caught up on each other’s progress. I saw a few people I thought had quit by now that hadn’t. They say that statistically nearly 50% of thru hikers will have quit by Hot Springs, so far most of the people that started around the same time I did are still out here. We talked about the trail, how steep some sections were, how steeply other sections descend. There’s a certain kinship that comes from shared suffering, it bonds you together in a certain way. Everybody is kind to each other out there. It renews one’s faith in humanity. Not only are the hikers kind, the people living along the trail are extremely kind to us too. Trail magic is commonplace, I don’t even know how many times a day hiker or trail angel has offered me a banana, or soft drink, or offered to take my trash from my pack, as we passed on the trail. It inspires you to be a better person, in a world where such simple acts of kindness seem to be increasingly less commonplace. The trail is an extraordinary footpath, it’s a great privilege to walk it.

I was hiking with a young acquaintance of mine named Dundee a couple days ago. The weather was wet, windy, and cool, the temperatures were in the low forties. We came upon a guy probably in his thirties, hiking towards us from the north. As he came closer I could see he was wearing blue jeans and a cotton shirt, he had on a very light windbreaker and nothing else. He didn’t have a pack or any other gear, only a nearly empty water bottle. We knew he was many miles from a road in the direction he was headed. It had started to rain lightly again, the forecast was calling for heavy rain within the next hour. It was the perfect recipe for hypothermia. Exposure kills more hikers than any other causes combined. It’s estimated that three to five hikers a year perish of hypothermia on the AT. Most of them are not thru hikers, we are constantly aware of the danger. We go to great lengths to make sure we have one set of warm dry clothes to get into once we reach a shelter or pitch our tents. We go to great lengths to keep our sleeping bags and puffy jackets dry. Until summer brings warm temperatures, exposure and hypothermia are to be consciously avoided.

I walked up to the guy and asked, “what the hell are you doing up here?” “Don’t you know it’s dangerous to be up here if you’re not prepared?” “Those blue jeans and that cotton shirt are a recipe for hypothermia if it starts raining like it’s supposed too, you could die up here.” Dundee just ignored me and said, “hey man, are you doing okay? Is your mind working good and everything? You’re shaking a lot, are you cold?” The guy said, “yeah, I’m a little cold, I’m not sure where I am, I think I missed my turn.” Dundee asked him where he came from and we looked on our gps to figure out how he went wrong. Turns out he hiked up 2.9 miles from a camp ground and headed north on the AT about 2 miles. He had hiked about 5 miles by then so he decided to head back. Apparently he missed the turn back to the campground where he was parked and ended up hiking about 4 miles south, up and down some really steep and rocky terrain. So by then he had hiked about 9 miles. He still had about 4.9 miles to go to get back to his car. Dundee told him he could hike with us until we came to the turn off that led to the campground. After that he would have to hike the remaining 2.9 miles to his car. Dundee told him that even if he started feeling warm to keep his jacket on. He told him that if the rain started to just keep walking till he made it to the car, even if it was pouring, then get in the car and get the heater going.

I led and Dundee followed behind. We made it to the turnoff in about an hour, bringing his total mileage up to about 11. He still had 2.9 to hike to get to the campground parking lot, a long hike even for someone used to doing it. It was drizzling but the rain in the forecast never came as predicted. Dundee asked, “you sure you’re alright to get back to the campground?” The guy said he was. Dundee gave him all the water in his water bottle, to refill his empty one. The guy asked, “are you sure you should give me your water?, I mean I’ll for sure drink it if you do give it to me, but I don’t want to take your water.” Dundee said, “There’s a water source right up ahead, I’ll just refill there. There’s lots of water on the trail.” I knew that we wouldn’t hit another water source for 4 or 5 miles, Dundee knew it too.

We walked in silence for a while after we sent the guy on his way. I finally said, “Dundee you’re a 25 year old kid and you just taught me, a 59 year old man, a better way to talk to people.” Dundee just kind of shrugged his shoulders and smiled sheepishly. “Well Juanito, I figured he was already in a bad situation, no sense we go scaring the hell out of him too.” I vowed to do better.

We met some new hikers at Walnut Mountain Shelter. A husband and wife who were section hikers, Snail and Apple core. Apple core was an OR nurse, so we talked shop for a while. We met a couple of British gents who were on a guided three day trip to Hot Springs. They were jolly guys, and a lot of fun to talk to.

We encouraged the Brits to hike the last miles to Hot Springs that day rather than stoping at the shelter only three miles from Hot Springs. One of them laughed and said in his strong British accent, “who wants to go into Hot Springs and have a pint and sleep in a warm bed when we can sleep out here on the cold rocky floor?” We laughed and assured him we definitely did. He and I talked about hunting in the UK, he gave me his card and promised that if I sent him an email he would take me hunting there some day. He said, “and make sure you sign the email Juanito, not your real name, so I’ll know who the bloody hell you are.” I would love to do that some day.

The hike was awesome that day. There was a tough ascent coming out of the shelter, but after that the trail was mostly downhill all the way into Hot Springs. The thirteen miles passed quickly. The trail passes through the middle of town, population less than 500. It is a hiker destination town, there were lots of hikers at the Laughing Heart Hostel and Lodge. I got a room in the lodge and did all my chores. It was good to be clean again.

Today we crossed Max Patch Summit. Max Patch is a homophone that replaced the original name “Mack’s Patch”. This summit was cleared for grazing cattle many years ago. Today it is maintained as a bald, and is a very popular AT destination. There is a road to Max Patch and a parking lot right below the summit. Lots of day hikers visit since it’s an easy hike from the parking lot and a great place for a picnic. The views are stunning, and the weather was great that day. There was trail magic at the summit, one guy was coming around with a trash bag, offering to take all the trash the thru hikers were carrying. We carry every single piece of trash from our food bags until we reach a trash can. We try to leave no trace, other than our footprints on the trail. It’s nice to unexpectedly have an opportunity to get rid of our trash. Another girl lugged an ice chest nearly as big as she was up to the summit from the parking lot and gave us cold sodas. A cold coke tastes unbelievable after a steady diet of only filtered spring water.

5.0 and I sat at the summit for a while, then began the descent to Walnut Creek Shelter. We still had over ten miles to hike so we didn’t linger too long. The hike was enjoyable, we hiked a little over five miles with little elevation change. We had one five hundred foot ascent, followed by a slight descent to Walnut Creek Shelter. It was a very good day on trail.

5.0 and I got a late start out of Standing Bear. We decided to eat one more frozen pizza for lunch before we left. Other hikers that were zeroing told us we should stay but we picked up a few resupply items and headed back out on trail. The weather was sunny and cool.

The climb out of Standing Bear was a brutal. We had been warned, but truly I prefer not to know. We’re going to climb whatever we come up against, why waste time worrying about it. All miles are definitely not created equally.

It was Mother’s Day, and my thoughts returned to my mother. She would have been interested in hearing all about the hike. She would have been most interested in hearing about all the people on the trail. I wish I had the opportunity to share it with her. She loved people, she made helping and giving to other people her life’s work. Even during her darkest hours, when she finally agreed to accept the comfort care of Hospice, she would go in her kitchen and make bread and other treats for the Hospice nurses who came to provide her end of life care. I miss the smell of that fresh bread. She made our family’s fresh bread for the week every Tuesday. I can still remember exactly how the kitchen smelled every Tuesday afternoon when I got home from school as a boy. It’s something I’ll never forget. I talked to her a lot that day, I felt her presence strongly, we walked together in the woods that day.

I reached the shelter pretty early. I set up my tent to hopefully help it dry out. But the southern Appalachians are a temperate rainforest, and as the clouds began to gather, there was no hope of anything drying out.

I decided to consolidate the hike through the Great Smoky Mountain National Park into one entry. The weather was windy, rainy with some hail, and the temperatures stayed mostly in the low forties. It was the most challenging part of the hike thus far. I was unable to work on my blog in these conditions.

Shua picked me up in Robbinsville at 7:30 the morning of the 30th and dropped me off at the Fontana Dam Shelter. This shelter is called the Fontana Hilton by hikers because it has electricity, bathrooms, and showers. It is reputedly the nicest shelter on the trail. The shelter was crowded with hikers when I arrived that morning, tents were scattered everywhere. Some of the hikers I knew were zeroing there that day after partying most of the previous night. We call places like the Hilton “traps” hikers go there to sleep for one night and end up staying for days. I was glad I had gotten a room in Robbinsville.

I entered the Smoky Mountain National Forest, deposited my permit in the box and started the hike. My permit allowed me to camp in the Smokies eight nights, I thought that would be plenty of time to get through the roughly 76 miles.

The trail started with a 4000 foot climb, the hiking was slow, hikers leapfrogged up the mountain. Some would take a break and others would pass. Later these hikers would stop and be passed by those they had passed earlier. The weather was cloudy and overcast. Rain was in the forecast for the next four or five days. I was a little nervous about the weather but the first two days passed with only cloudy foggy conditions but no rain. The temperatures held in the mid to high forties. It was good hiking weather, but all the views were mostly obscured, occasionally the wind would blow the clouds away and briefly there was a glimpse of the mountains. Once we made it to the summit we hiked along the spines of the mountains. The ridges were mostly three to four feet wide, with the eighteen inch path tracing a pattern right down the middle of this rocky spine. The mountains fell away hundreds of feet on both sides of the trail. The forest was changing. Until now all of the trees on the trail were deciduous. Now the forest was a mix of deciduous and Red Cedar. Hiking through the foggy stands of Red Cedar reminded me of the enchanted forests of fairy tales. The first two days of the hike were difficult, the trail was getting a lot more rocky, everything was moist and muddy. They say it takes two million steps to complete the Appalachian Trail, and only one wrong step in that two million can end your hike. I carefully placed each foot on the muddy rocks. Progress was slow.

The rain started the second night. I was in my tent outside the shelter as usual. In the Smokies you are required to sleep in shelters if there is space available. The Smoky Mountains have the highest density of black bears of anywhere along the trail. It is estimated that there are an average of two bears per acre. The problem with this is the National Park caters to day and section hikers, thru hikers are treated like second class guests. Section and day hikers can reserve a spot in the shelters, thru hikers cannot. If a thru hikers is sleeping in a shelter and a hiker with a reservation shows up in the middle of the night, the thru hiker has to get up and pitch a tent so the section or day hiker can have the spot in the shelter. I had never slept in a shelter, and really had no intention of doing so unless I absolutely had to. At dusk you can watch the mice come scurrying to the shelters from all directions. They are looking for scraps of food dropped by hikers. I’ve heard of hikers being awakened by mice crawling across their faces during the night. If there is a candy wrapper inside your pack, mice will chew a hole in it to get to the wrapper. I would rather take my chances with the bears than deal with the mice. Not to mention being crammed shoulder to shoulder with a bunch of other stinky hikers, many of which snore terribly. It just didn’t appeal to me.

Social distancing is still observed on the trail. Because of this, thru hikers are currently allowed to pitch tents even if the shelters are not full. I intended to use this out to avoid sleeping in the shelters as much as possible.

The wind and rain started around midnight the second night. The temperatures remained in the low forties. The rain continued after daybreak. I got dressed and ran to the bear cables to retrieve my food bag, then ran over to the shelter. Some of the hikers in the shelter were putting on rain gear and heading out to continue their hike in the pouring rain. I decided to wait. The rain slowed down around 9:00, and most of the hikers left the shelter. I stayed a little longer to see what the rain was going to do. It rained lightly for about another hour, and then the bottom fell out and it started pouring again. The sky was crisscrossed with lightening, followed by sharp reports of thunder. I felt for the hikers that had chosen to brave the weather. I felt for “Birthday Girl”, the pink haired 76 year old hiker who I watched leave the shelter that morning. She was trying to set the record as the oldest woman to thru hike the trail in one season. I was confident she would succeed. There was no way they all weren’t totally drenched and cold. As the morning wore on other hikers started showing up that had hiked in from the last shelter. They were completely soaked and shaking from the cold. Eventually it was nearly noon and I still hadn’t even taken down my tent yet.

About one o’clock the rain slowed down and stopped. The sky seemed to lighten up, so I took down my tent and packed it up. It was soaking wet and muddy, everything was muddy. My pack was still mostly dry and my clothes were still dry. I went back to the shelter and started packing up my stove and my food bag. I went down to the water source and filtered some water. The trees were dripping and water ran down the trail like a tiny river but at least it wasn’t raining. An older hiker, trail name “Gandalf” from Lord of the Rings, looked over at me and said, “looks like you’re about to start walking Juanito.” I nodded to the affirmative. “I bet I can at least get to the next shelter if I’m lucky, it’s only about 7.something miles.” He smiled and said, I believe I’m gonna start walking too.” More and more wet hikers were staggering into the shelter. I was ready to get out of there. Gandalf was a much slower hiker, but we left the shelter together. I left Gandalf after a couple of miles. I figured worse case, he would only have a few miles left to hike if the skies opened up again.

I made it to the next shelter without getting wet. The trail was muddy and the rocks were slippery but I took my time and about all that got wet were my feet. When I got to the shelter all the hikers that left the last shelter during the rain where bunched up under this shelter, soaking wet, Birthday Girl had made it safe. I met up 5.0 at that shelter. I told him I was headed to the next shelter because there were still a lot more wet hikers I had passed that were headed there. It was going to be a full house, and already most of the tent spots were taken. He was at a low point, but agreed that we should probably go on. We headed out, the rain still held off. We had about eight miles to hike and we were starting after 3:00PM, but we figured we could make it in less than four hours, getting there well before dark.

The trail ran mostly along the high ridges, so there were no major climbs or descents to be made. We were making good time and the rain still held off so far. We were about three miles from the shelter when rain mixed with pea sized hail came pelting down. We were hiking together, mostly for safety on the ridge lines. We were already soaked with sweat from hiking despite the cool temperatures so at that point it really didn’t make sense to put on rain gear. The wind and rain was furious. Lighting flashed and was immediately followed by thunder, we knew it was close, the air smelled faintly like an electrical fire, we had to get off of that ridge line. The problem was the only way forward was to keep following the trail until it took us down off the top of the mountain. There was no other way to get down. We just kept hiking, and suddenly we saw the sign for the shelter. We had hiked the eight miles in two and a half hours. Bad weather is a great motivator, neither of us could believe we had made it that fast. We ran under the shelter and put on our puffy jackets to keep from getting chilled. The rain slowed down and stopped. I set up my tent and 5.0 elected to sleep in the shelter. I got in my tent and put on the few dry clothes I had and got in my bag. Shortly thereafter the rain begin falling in earnest again.

I woke up the next morning and everything was dripping wet. My pack was sodden, My tent was wet both inside and out, my sleeping bag was damp from condensation inside my tent. My hiking clothes, socks, and shoes were soaked. My food bag was wet, hanging from the bear cables. I put on my wet hiking clothes and shoes, took down my tent, and we started hiking toward New Found Gap. We were halfway through the Smokies, and if we could find a ride, we were headed to Gatlinburg Tennessee. For the first time since I started, during the hike the day before, I developed chaffing issues between my thighs from the wet clothes. It was torture to hike in the wet clothes to New Found Gap, but at least it was only seven miles.

We found a shuttle to take us to Gatlinburg. I found a room and couldn’t wait to be dry. I bought a cheap pair of shorts in the hotel gift shop and wore them and my iffy jacket while I washed and dried all my clothes. I hung up my sleeping bag and everything else I could find a place to hang up to dry. Most of my gear was not only wet it was filthy. I washed what I could in the bathtub. I took a zero the next day, I was so exhausted I slept for most of it. The skies cleared and the sun shined, and a lot of my gear dried out.

5.0, Jimmy Dean, Eclipse, and I caught a shuttle back to New Found Gap the next morning and continued through the Smokies, we were halfway done. It was overcast again but not raining. My pack was still damp, it felt heavy on my back. We made good progress that day and the next. We avoided the rain, but the trail was a mess, my feet stayed wet and muddy the entire time I was in the Smokies.

On Friday the 6th it started raining again. We arrived at the shelter and it was pouring. There were some hikers we didn’t know there, but it wasn’t crowded so I decided to stay in the shelter that night, instead of putting up my tent in the rain. It was a rough night. Three older guys in the shelter were snoring incessantly all night long. To top it off, about two in the morning the guy sleeping next to me abruptly jumped up on his hands and knees and started screaming. Then he just laid back down and went back to sleep as though nothing happened. I never did go back to sleep that night. I decided it would have to be pretty bad for me to ever attempt sleeping in a shelter again.

Saturday We hiked out of the Smokies and stopped at Standing Bear Farm Hostel which is situated right on the trail. They had a dryer but no washer, so I dried my wet dirty clothes and got a room in a cabin with four other people. I knew two of them, a couple named Charles and Jenna, the other two other people I never did meet. Standing Bear Farm is another “trap” hikers were piling into the Hostel coming out of the Smokies. Many were zeroing on Sunday. We opted to get back on trail and zero in Hot Springs where we could resupply and dry out our gear. The rains seemed to have passed for now.

It was a short hike into Fontana Dam that day. I needed a resupply, and I found a room in nearby Robbinsville, I just needed a ride to get there.

I met a guy named Shua who was working at the Fontana Resort. He told me he would give me a ride to Robbinsville for $20.00 when he got off work. I sat at the restaurant at the Dam and waited for him to get done.

There was a huge Mini Cooper car convention going on at the Dam. I didn’t even know it was a thing, but apparently there is a whole club of people that are Mini Cooper enthusiasts that come there every year. Apparently there is a stretch of road up there in the mountains called the Tail of the Dragon, which has more than 300 big curves in an 11 mile stretch. Apparently all summer there are motorcycle and various car club meets at Fontana Dam.

Shua finished work around five and came and picked me up. He was a cool guy, he was going through a divorce, and I happen to have a lot of experience in that department. He asked me if I wanted to take a ride up to a cool spot he knew.

I said sure and we went up to a nice spring up on the mountainside. We filtered the cold water from the spring and sat and drank water and talked. I felt for him, I’ve been there. I told him it would pass. Time is a great healer, it always does.

Shua took me to Robbinsville to the motel where I had arranged a room. The guy at the desk told me I could park my bike under the overhang next to the room. I laughed and told him I didn’t have a bike, that mostly I have been walking everywhere I go. He acted like he didn’t believe me, he said, “I would have sworn you were a biker.”

I resupplied in the grocery store about a mile from the motel and got a good nights sleep despite the horrid condition of the room. I decided I wasn’t going to keep sleeping in roach motels when I can avoid it. This was the worst one I’ve seen yet, and that’s saying something.

It was a beautiful morning, I’ve gotten used to waking up with the woods in the morning. Some hikers get up early before daylight and pack up and get started. Instead I like to let the woods wake up as the sun rises. The birds start chirping, Squirrels start rustling in the leaves looking for food. It’s an enjoyable way to start the day.

The hike was long today. It was a good day for a longer hike. There was a lot of ridge line hiking IT’s glorious walking down the spine of a mountain, the views are pretty good despite the ever present clouds. I can see the NOC below us. It’s amazing to look back and see how far I’ve come. I’m getting stronger, I’m getting my hiker legs under me. I felt good when I arrived to the shelter. It was good to take off my pack, but I knew I was capable of bigger miles.

I planned a short day coming out of the NOC, there were more than 4000 feet in elevation to be climbed to get to the Sassafras Shelter. All miles on the AT are not created equally.

The climbing was tough, the weather was good, it was a beautiful day. I made good time and arrived at the shelter around two in the afternoon. I was glad I wasn’t going any farther. I set up my camp and talked to the other hikers. I knew some and met a few that I hadn’t seen before.

Dragon Ball and 5-0 surprised us by packing in all the leftovers from our dinner the previous night. Those guys have very little money, they had little to contribute. They do have strong backs, and they were proud to pack in the nearly twenty pounds of food. We warmed it up on the fire and had the most awesome dinner we’ve had on the trail.

It rained a lot that day. I was glad not to be out hiking in it. The saying goes, “No pain, no strain, no rain, no Maine. Everyone out here will have to hike in the rain. The southern Appalachian mountains are a temperate rainforest, rain is frequent occurrence.

I worked on my blog and rested up for the hike the next day. It was known to be a rough hike coming out of the NOC, basically a straight up hike to get back up in the higher elevations. A full resupply for the next four days was going to be heavy in my pack.

I’m still learning about my food. What works, how much is enough, it’s tricky to figure out. If you get too much, you end up carrying it all that way for nothing. Everybody out here is trying to figure it out. Most, myself included, tend toward having more than enough. They say you pack your fears, nobody wants to run out of food.

What to eat is a whole other issue. I’ve gotten into the habit of eating a peanut butter and honey sandwich made out with two strawberry or blueberry pop tarts instead of bread. I also eat dried fruit in the morning if I have it. I heat water twice a day, in the morning for coffee and for my evening meal. A can of fuel lasts me about two weeks normally. Mid morning I’ve been eating a protein bar and adding electrolyte tablets to my water. At lunch I eat another peanut butter sandwich made out of a flour tortilla and honey. I add pork rinds to it too if I have them. It actually tastes a lot better than it sounds. I eat a snickers bar mid afternoon, and maybe some trail mix or mixed nuts, whatever I have. I eat pickles and olives when I can find them in foil packs at the grocery store. I eat cheese for the first couple of days after a resupply. I’ve eaten summer sausage and pepperoni too, but the grams of protein in those are not as high as other sources. I eat ramen of course, it’s a staple out here.

For dinner I eat freeze dried meals. They are a little pricey compared to Knorr sides and Idahoan potatoes, but definitely much more palatable. They also are calorie dense, and it’s nice to have a hot meal in the evening. You can basically eat anything you want out here. Once you are hiking 8 to 10 miles a day carrying a pack, it’s impossible to carry enough food to replace the calories you burn each day. As your miles get above 10 or 12, it’s critical that you eat enough food, you will feel like you can’t walk another step, only to discover you are just hungry. I’ve taken a break in the afternoon and wondered how I was going to finish the hike, I felt so exhausted. Then I eat a Snickers bar and twenty minutes later I feel completely refreshed and ready to hike again. It’s amazing how much it affects the way you feel. Electrolyte replacement is also critical to your performance. You sweat a lot all day everyday, it doesn’t take long to deplete your electrolytes.

Some people out here go stoveless, eating only cold food such as bars, nuts, trail mix, whatever. Others do what’s called cold soaking their food. They put water in their noodles or whatever and let it soak all day or all afternoon while they’re hiking. Hey “hike your own hike”, as they say, but that stuff looks really nasty to me, I don’t know how they stomach it.

There are kids out here hiking the trail on a diet of Snickers bars, Little Debbie cakes, and sour patch gummies. It’s hilarious to watch. Everybody is losing weight despite what they eat. Some people come out here with losing weight specifically a goal for their hike. I’m positive there are easier ways to lose weight, but it’s definitely effective. The problem with that is it doesn’t teach you to make better dietary choices. If you go home after the hike and keep eating like you where eating on the trail, you will gain your weight back with interest in no time. I hear that’s what happens most of the time.

I had a restful day. That evening some other hikers came and we cooked steaks and potatoes. I was ready to get back to the trail in the morning.