Day 53 went from Mollies Ridge Shelter to Derrick Knob Shelter – 12.1 miles.
Today, I hiked with an older married man from New Brunswick – Thumper is his trail name. I had passed him yesterday a couple of times, but when I got to Mollies Ridge the night before, I learned he was friends with my friend Rainbow and that he was apparently as slow as I am! Yay!
We had a very enjoyable hike together. We both agreed that we had enjoyed each other’s company (something we had not necessarily found with other faster hikers…).
While following his lead, he suddenly shouted “Oh!” And scared me to death, but turns out, he was just really excited about this bug!
Another plus to hiking with Thumper is that I got to take a couple of perspective photos which I can’t do when I’m alone.
About lunchtime, we happened upon a nice clearing where we took lunch and Thumper took a short nap under a tree.
We also had a guy who has my favorite trail name by far pass us during lunch… LORD SNOW!
How perfect!!
He is hiking with his Uncle (Hounddog) and cousin (Lunatic – 9 year old boy) aka The Smith Family! They are REALLY incredible! The entire family began at Springer (Mom, Dad, 2 daughters, and son), but the girls decided to get off trail in Franklin. However, Lord Snow started with them all because he was helping the family by carrying some of their weight! Such an honorable thing to do! I do believe they have a blog. They are missionaries!
I knew the first 6 miles for today wouldn’t be that bad, but I heard the second 6 were pretty tough… and they WERE!
Thumper and I did not make it to camp that night until 9:30 pm! Aka we night hiked! Like headlamps and all! It was quite an experience! I don’t think I got any pictures of the night hiking, though.
Thanks for joining me on Expedition Elizabeth!
Expedition Elizabeth 