Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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June 21, Hawksbill Gap - mile 909.4

I'm sitting against a tree along Skyline Drive, waiting for my ever faithful prince to rescue me.... and he's already an hour late. I'm starting to really regret passing up the offer for a ride to Skyland from a British chap who was hiking here earlier & is also staying here tonight. He was very interested in the fact that I was thru-hiking & had lots of questions, as always. When we finished talking, he offered me a ride up to the lodge, but I figured I should stay here because otherwise Tony wouldn't know where to find me, In the mean time, I have been watching a lot of deer & I've been trying to send a lot of gnats to their graves. Some how there are still zillions around to bite me, though, even thought I have pulled on long johns & a long sleeve shirt to try to protect myself.

Later: Well, my prince got caught in DC rush hour traffic, as I suspected, but eventually we found each other. it wasn't easy, though! I waited until 6:30 (we were supposed to meet at 5) & then I decided the growing rumble of thunder & dark skies were getting too close for comfort. So I left a note taped conspicuously to a tree & then began trying to hitch a ride for the 3 miles north to Skyland, where we had a cabin reserved for tonight. I could have actually walked here on the trail, but I've been pushing some longer miles lately & I didn't want to push myself again today, so I had arranged to stop here instead. Any way, I couldn't believe my luck when the second car I saw stopped to give me a ride. We got about a mile up the road & suddenly I recognized Tony coming the other way! Of course - doesn't it always happen that way! So the guy giving me a ride was so nice & we turned around & went back to the parking lot to meet him. Then, we finally get going down the road, this time in my own car, & we see the same guy parking at the next overlook & he's holding my map, which I had dropped in the car. So we stopped again & after a final round of profuse thanks for his kindness, we made it the last mile here to Skyland. And tonight we have what seem to me right now like the most beautiful cabin in the world! It's small & the walls are like paper, so we can nearly join in on our neighbors conversations, but the bed is soft, there's running water & it's dry in here while it's storming like crazy outside. I had a front row seat on last night's thunderstorm, so my tent is still all wet in my pack, & I'm so thankful to be inside tonight! I can hardly believe our timing, to have rented the cabin tonight when it happens to be storming like crazy.

The best news of today is that I ran into Sue again - on the trail! I couldn't believe my eyes when I came down the trail & there she was. She confessed that she had spent all day yesterday talking to hikers & decided instead of quitting, to do whatever she can by whatever means she can. In other words, if she needs to "yellow blaze" (drive past a section) or "blue blaze" (take side trails to short cut the A.T.) or skip whole sections entirely if the terrain is too difficult, that's what she's going to do. A lot of hikers do all those things & still claim to hike the whole A.T., which is one of those subjects of endless debate, but Sue knows she's not really doing it now, she's just hiking along to have fun instead.