Day 19: Windsor Furnace Shelter

Start: Port Clinton (AT mi 1220). Stop: Windsor Furnace Shelter (AT mi 1225.9). Today’s miles: 5.9 miles Total AT mileage: 201.2 miles

Today just felt.. easy. Not necessarily the terrain or anything, just that the day had a chill, easy vibe. I woke up at the hostel all cozy and comfy. I was the last to wake up, but the other two were super quiet. Seth was mouselike in his packing and Lizard was still laying in her bed. When I went to the bathroom, it almost seemed like there was a relief that I was awake and everyone could move about freely and get ready for the day. I won’t lie, I was tempted to curl back up in my blanket.. but there was no point really.. my brain just always wants 5 more minutes of sleep lol

By 7:30 Craig sent a message saying coffee was ready, so the 3 of us walked over to their front porch where they set up a nice table for 4 for us. We met his wife, Jody, and she cooked us breakfast. It was delicious! And so charming in every way! We had fresh fruit, an egg, sausage, and cheese bagel, orange juice and coffee and water. Seth had toast with jam with his fruit. We were entertained by their 14 year old yellow lab, Sugar, who was quite the cute old gal.. even in her little coughing fits.. and their cat came out to greet us, too.. although Lizard and Seth took more to him than I did.

Craig took Seth to the trail first, and then came back for the two of us.. which was nice because we had no rush to get ready and could stretch and just relax. We had no where to be until 1230 when the post office in town opens, so we were taking it easy.

Craig dropped us off at the hiker pavilion, where Curmudgeon, Cholula, NoFilter, Crinkles, Derby, and Randy were. It was a great little morning reunion! While half the gang went to Cabela’s on the free shuttle, our little tramily went to the barber shop down the street to hang out. Sounds weird, yes, BUT this place was awesome to us! They gave us free coffee and cookies, let us love on their “mascot” dog, and literally hang out with them while they would randomly cut hair. We sat in chairs and talked and charged devices, read Chinese astrology things and had a fantastic time. What else was there to do while waiting on the post office to open?

When it got close to opening time, we moseyed over to a candy shop, and spent more than we should have on a sugar high. Leaving there, we walked down the main road to get to the post office and passed FarOut, HotSauce, Towely, and someone else I can’t remember.. we all caught each other up on the last couple days, told all about cabela’s and Taco Bell.. man i hope they catch us tomorrow, I really enjoy all these people!

Finally, we make it to the post office. The guy behind the counter hands me my one box, and I’m thinking there’s NO WAY my tent is in that little box. YALL! My new tent packs SOOOOO TINY! Just seeing it’s littleness in the box made my heart so happy I decided to make the switch! I sent my old tent home, a whole 4 pounds, and now I have this new one that comes in UNDER 2 pounds with the stakes and bag and everything! I’m amazed!

We repack our new things, Curmy and Cholula head on to the trail while Lizard and I finished rearranging, then we followed soon after. We followed the river for a half mile before going though an underpass. The beams had someone’s handwriting absolutely everywhere. Craig told us about this, that it was the homeless man’s writing, like his manifesto. He passed away last year, and from reading some of his writing, it was quite clear he suffered from mental health issues. His words were very dark and paranoid, it made me wonder if he was traumatized early in life and that’s what triggered the delusions and psychosis, or if that was there all along, part of his genetic make up that would have showed itself with or without trauma? Fascinating to think about, but also so very heartbreaking that someone lived under a bridge and was plagued by the awful thoughts and feelings he was writing about.

Anyway, after the bridge the trail went steeply up and then continued up some switchbacks. Lizard quickly left me in her dust while I huffed and puffed my way up. Once I made it to the top, I decided to put on my audiobook. The day was chilly, especially compared to the last week of flat out hot, and it kept threatening rain.. although none really came. The woods felt dark and almost mystical. I became so transfixed into my audiobook (The Starless Sea, a very mystical book itself), and because of how the weather felt and the way the scenery looked, the words playing in my ears seemed to transport me into another world all together. The miles flew by, in my head. Luckily it was only a 6 mile day to camp (because we got such a late start), because I glanced at my watch and realized I was hardly walking 1.6 miles per hour! This book had me totally sucked in!

Once I got to camp, the others were setting up and chatting.. I got to set up my new tent! It’s not 100% perfect tonight, but it’s pretty darn close! It feels HUGE and so spacious! I’m so happy I made the switch!
We all ate dinner around an awesome fire Curmudgeon built and we chatted about any and everything. It’s funny how I set out to do this “alone” and I’ve rarely been alone and never once actually felt that way. There is such a sense of community with fellow hikers, and this tramily I’m in is a pretty sweet one. We know we won’t stick together every day, per se, but we all agree it’s nice to come together at the end of the day. I’m definitely the slowest hiker in our little group.. but I kinda like showing up after everyone else. It’s hard to explain, but I feel like I don’t miss anything this way. If something happened ahead of me, I’ll come across it.. it’s like I feel safe knowing where everyone is.

Anyway, I’m off to sleep in my new tent 😉 let’s all hope I staked it out correctly and the whole thing doesn’t fall on my head at 4 am.. hahaha