Day 50: May 10, 2021 (13.7 miles)

Davis Hollow Campsite - Partnership Shelter

Today was an emotional roller coaster. I woke up wet and lonely - I had 0 motivation to hike this morning. I finally got moving around 8am and even though the terrain was super easy I was close to tears because of how homesick I was. I decided to treat myself to coffee at the Exxon under I-81 and sat on the patio and cried. I didn’t want to go home but I didn’t want to hike. I finally pushed on and run into Scout Master, and that was a morale boost. I ducked out of the rain in a single room 1842 schoolhouse with some folks I’d never met, and I pushed on to a shelter for lunch.

Lindamood Schoolhouse from 1842, great place to hide out a thunderstorm

I ate with Bee, who is friends with Sam from back home - small world! Once I made my mind up not to push 20 miles I felt better hiking the rest of the day (other than the rain in my right shoulder blade). I ran into the whole Dirty Bubble and got to chat with them all individually. It’s weird passing people going SoBo because unless they go back for trail days I probably won’t see them again. Rat King, Good Job, Oats, and Lady Bug are also Sobo to Damascus and we’re all at the Partnership Shelter tonight along with Net Geo, Triple T, and Maui. My motto on these low days has just been to make it to trail days, I’m hoping I’ll pep back up them. I would be so disappointed if I didn’t make it to Maine, but this is tough.

Lunch with a friend of a friend. Was feeling low, but chatting with Bee helped pep me up. The trail provides