Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
June 29
Nick Grindstaff Monument to Abingdon Gap Shelter...............15 miles
Said goodbye to Ol' Nick (and thanks for the water). Our feet finally started to feel better, no cramps. Finally on the last 2 days of our hike we get some good, smooth, relatively flat trail to walk on. After 15 fairly easy miles, we got to our home for the night, Abingdon Gap Shelter, got there by 3:30.
We lay out under the trees, and relaxed. We set up our tent in a nice grassy area in front of the shelter. Went to China for water (not quite that far but quite a ways) Plenty of water today, and we drank a lot. Ate our last mac and cheese and had hot chocolate for dessert. A full moon kept us awake again.
Our last night in a tent on the trail. This has been our home for the last 6 weeks, except for a few town days and the few times we slept in a shelter. We'll miss being out here. It's been such a great experience, travelling and meeting new people. We'll miss that connection.
For several weeks we had begun to feel that we were ready to get off of the trail. However, the closer we came to the end, the less ready we were to leave. Many miles we still want to walk , many thoughts we still want to think, many people we still want to meet.
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