Day 128: Stealth Site

Start: Pinefield Hut (AT mi 898.2). Stop: Stealth Site (AT 879.2). Today’s miles: 19 miles. Total AT mileage: 1313.9 miles

I’m surprising myself with these consistent 19-20 mile days. I’m also happy to report tomorrow will not be another one.. instead it will be a 15 mile day to get me to town, where hopefully I’ll have a hostel bed waiting for me. I was supposed to call today to reserve it and arrange a pick up, but I forgot.

So, I got up at 7.. completely unable to move a second before then. I packed up and headed down to the shelter picnic area, where I met the ridge runner I heard last night. We chatted while I ate breakfast, and he surprisingly has me considering his line of work someday. I was also telling Jerzy the other night that I just want to be a camp host at campgrounds across the country-so, there’s some wiggle room in my future plans. Lol

I got started hiking at exactly 8am. The trail was pristine beauty all morning, and I’m thinking the wind must have destroyed a good bit of the spider webs for me, because while I ran into no people during the morning, I didn’t run into very many webs, either. I was grateful. The sun was shining, the wind was blowing almost chilly air, and the mountains I was climbing had me nice and warm in spite of it. I was soaking it up!

I made it to the wayside campstore at Lookout Mountain Campground at 10:30. The ridge runner was there! He says, “wow, you’re fast this morning! Wasn’t that almost 7 miles?” And I reply, “says the man who somehow beat me here..” he laughed a minute, and when he saw my confused look, he tells me, “I have a car! I drove over.” Hahahaha I was thinking he passed me when I stepped off trail to dig a hole, both curious and mortified that he may have seen me but definitely saw my pack on the trail. I was suddenly glad he drove.

I laid out some stuff to dry, and then headed inside to get my resupply and snacks for lunch. It was technically too early for lunch, but if I was going to be taking this much time to do something, I might as well eat too. That way I could throw my trash out now, and not have to tote it anywhere. I got some more chips to eat with lunch, a dinner for tonight, a soda, a Gatorade, and some pickle slices. Weird, I know, but when I saw them, my mouth watered.

I sat outside at a picnic table eating my lunch and freezing! The sun was directly on me, but the wind was furious with its whipping though the grassy field. I had chill bumps everywhere and considered paying to take a hot shower and do some laundry, too.. just to warm up. But I knew if I did all of that, I wouldn’t make it to my destination today. That would have been fine too, but it would have caused tomorrow to be a longer day than I’d like, especially since I’ll be going to town then for sure, and getting that hot shower and laundry. No point in doing it 2 days in a row!

So, I ate quickly, repacked my things all strewn about, threw out my trash, and used their bathroom. I could care less about the flushing toilets, but maaaaaan that soap and water hand washing gets me excited. With hands mostly dry from the blower thing, I walked outside, got my pack and carried on. I started a new audiobook, “Ready Player One” and it’s already got me sucked in.

I walked and enjoyed, I saw deer, I saw views, and I saw people! I didn’t have to wear my bug net, and I never really struggled any. When I got to the 13 ish mile point for the day, I walked down to a stream to get more water. I had to carry 2 litters with me because I was planning on stealth camping before a trail junction mentioned on my app.. and there wouldn’t be water nearby. When I filtered, I realized my cnoc bag has 3 holes in it. Lovely. When I get to town I’ll try to remedy this, as they’re currently “sold out” on Amazon.

Either way, I messily managed to get my water, I just couldn’t tote extra in the bag, unless I wanted all of my stuff soaking wet from the leaks. I somehow made it to the stealth site by 5pm. That alone tells you the terrain is less challenging! I decided not to set up my tent immediately like I normally would, just in case people, rangers, ridge runners walked by. I don’t think it’s illegal to camp here, and if I do get questioned, my ignorance is valid. I haven’t seen the “no camping” signs like I’ve seen on other parts of the trail.

Either way, I scoped put my flat spot, left my trekking poles, hung my bear line for my food bag, and then sat down to eat dinner. As I was eating, a curious mama deer came walking through camp. She could care less about me! She walked through, came close enough that I considered petting her, but thought better about it. Then, a while later, her baby wandered up, too! It was much more skittish though.

A pair of day hikers came through and the baby ran one way and the mama ran the opposite, in front of them across the trail. They were so shocked by the deer that they almost didn’t even notice me! It took them having a whole conversation and then turning before seeing me eating. We all got a good laugh at that since I startled them more than the deer did.

I waited until 6:45pm to put up my tent, unpack it all, and then hang up my food bag. The food bag is what will more than likely get noticed first, the electric blue tends to glow. But hopefully it won’t be an issue with the park that I’m camped here tonight. At this point, all tucked in and ready for bed, all I think they’d do if it is a big deal is issue me a ticket or something. I wasn’t hiking 7 more miles to the next shelter either way, so, if it came down to that, I wouldn’t complain too much.

My deer mama came back through a few minutes ago. I don’t have anything for her to chew on, so hopefully she doesn’t mess with the tent any, and keeps the other critters away. It’s getting colder at night, so I’m thinking about swapping back out for my warmer sleeping bag in the next couple of weeks. We’ll see.

Anyway, I’m off to sleep, my eyes are heavy and my feet are achy. Goodnight y’all. Sweet dreams.