Day 12, July 11, 16.6 miles

Well, Olfrie and I are on the trail again. I slept from about 9:30 last night until 6:00 am. Good sleep. I miss my bed though.

I’m trying to help Olfrie lose a little weight. She’s quite heavy right now. I’m helping her out by trying to eat as much as I can. I think the old hiker hunger has struck. I had 2 blueberry muffins and a cup of yogurt and coffee for breakfast. I had a power bar mid-morning. Then I ate a payday and butterfinger mid-mid morning. For lunch I had 2 pop tarts, a beef stick and a stick of cheese. Mid-afternoon I ate Cheetos and a snicker bar. For dinner I had a pack of Ramen with peanut butter and soy sauce. Even after all that, Olfrie still weighs too much. Guess I’ll just keep eating until she lightens up a bit.

The first climb this morning turned out to be 1500 ft in 1 mile instead of 1000. It wasn’t too bad though. But, what followed was a long day of ups and downs that wore me out. I was happy to see the shelter when I did.

The highlight of my day was: I had walked 7 hours today without seeing another soul. I came to the top of a climb and a southbound hiker appeared around the bend and we both looked up but didn’t speak until we got closer. I said “Hi.” He said “Hi.” I said, “How’s it going?” He said, “Renea?” I said, “What??? No way!!! What are the chances?? I don’t believe it!!! Steve Brown??” We were both astonished. Danny and I know Steve Brown from the gym we used to go to. He lives in Loganville. I haven’t seen or talked to him in about 2 years. I had no idea, but he is thru-hiking the AT southbound. We chatted for a few minutes and I had to get his picture. I told him I was sending it to Danny cause he would never believe it. He said to please tell Danny hello. Steve was moving on to the next shelter southbound and I was moving on to the next shelter northbound. So we’re both from Loganville, Ga and cross paths in northern Vermont and are camping 10 miles apart. How crazy is that? I won’t see him anymore since we’re going opposite directions. He did tell me that there are about 30 SOBO’s about a week behind him.

I didn’t see any other hikers today until I got to the shelter. Made It and UHaul were here already. As I was cooking my dinner, Five, who I haven’t seen in about 5 days came in and so did Poego. Made It is hammocking, UHaul, Five and I are all tenting and Poego is sleeping in the shelter.

Tomorrow is going to be a shorter day. I’m going to walk 0.2 miles off-trail to a farm store that has dried meats and pies. I’ll have breakfast there hopefully since I’m only 4 miles away. I’ll then move on to another shelter for the night, so I think I’ll hike somewhere around 12 miles–maybe.