Day 62: Father’s Day

Day 62

Punch Bowl Overlook to Seeley-Woolworth Shelter

Miles Hiked: 24.9

AT Milage: 822.5

This morning my parents dropped me off at Pubch Bowl Overlook at 8am. I slack packed 11ish miles to route 60 where I met my parents again who were doing trail magic. At route 60 I got my backpack back again. At the beginning of my day I walked through an area called Brown Mountain Creek. A community of freed slaves used to live there and made a living by share cropping. A sign said the community disbanded in the 1920s when the US Forrest Service purchased the property. I thought it was pretty cool that a community used to exist there! When I met my parents they let me know all the hikers who stopped by and got Gatorade and snacks from them. I didn’t recognize any of them. I’m hitting a new bubble of people again. One of the people who met my parents is from Hartville, OH. What a small world! I will probably never see her again because she seems to be hiking a lot slower.

After I got my pack and said goodbye to my parents I began to climb a 2,000 foot scent up Bald Knob. My pack felt super heavy. I am carrying a lot of food and new gear. I went up the hill super slow because I felt so weighed down. I went over a few other mountains and a bald before I ran into someone who offered me a coke at a parking lot. It was a ridge runner I met before who is in charge of a huge section of the trail in Virginia. His name was Slim Jim and I might see him again patrolling the trail later on. I finally got to camp at 7pm and met a whole bunch of new people. At camp tonight was Caveman, Walnut, Rafiki, Eyore, Yoshi, and Geode. Yoshi showed me a nest of baby robins by his tent which were so cute! I tried to get a good picture of them. I wore my new shoes today which I like so far but can’t tell if they will help my feet or not. I feel like I need to walk 100 miles in a pair of hiking shoes before I decide if I like them or not.