We woke up to an incredibly beautiful view this morning. It was nice camping with a view for a change!
Today was a true accomplishment for us. To me, to be a good thru hikers is to find the fine balance between hiking far/making miles and being lazy/soaking up the luxuries of the trail. When you are able to do both of these to the maximum in the same day, this is when you truly excel as a thru hiker. We planned on doing a typical day today, but as we walked this morning we unsurprisingly started talking about food. We had 7 miles down to a road that led Ito the town of Quincy. We planned to skip town sicnr we just had real food in Belden, but perhaps unsurprisingly to most who have been reading this blog, our desire for food got the best of us. Once we started talking about food, then we started joking about going into town to satisfy our cravings. Soon these jokes turned into “what ifs” and then transformed into a concrete plan. We figured if we could get a hitch quickly enough we would be able to go into town to eat and still have time to hike another 20 miles afterwards. Now we were on a mission.
As we approached the road, I told Wolf Bird maybe we should set a time limit for how long we’d wait for a hitch, and just give up on the idea of we didn’t get a ride quickly enough. Not a minute after making this suggestion, we were at the road and Wolf Bird, 30 seconds ahead of me, had already gotten a car to stop for him! Record timing.
The red truck was driven by Al, and his wife was in a white SUV just in front of him. They were headed into Quincy from their cabin in nearby Buck’s Lake so they could get their truck fixed. They offered us a ride and there was some debate about which of them would drive us. Somehow I ended up rising with Al in his truck and Wolf Bird ended up riding with Mary, Al’s wife, in her SUV. It was an interesting arrangement. They told us they had just the spot to take us for breakfast. During the car ride to town, I discovered this spot was their daughter’s restaurant!
We soon arrived at Patti’s Thunder Cafe and were very excited that our plan was already working so well. wolf Bird and I grabbed a table and Mary and Al went to drop off their truck. They soon returned to join us for breakfast! They were he nicest couple and we enjoyed chatting with them. Needless to say we also enjoyed our mountains of food that was full of fresh ingredients. Mary and Al even grabbed their daughter from the back of the restaurant and introduced us to her. They then asked our plans and when they heard we were heading back to the trail, they offered to drive us back after their errands in town as hey were heading that way anyway. Score! Mary and Al were really helping to enable our food addiction and master plan.
While they went to do their errands, Wolf Bird and I wandered around the cute downtown area. I of course had to stop and get an ice cream cone since itd been over ten minutes since I last ate. We met Mary and Al at the supermarket and they drove us back to the trail. We hugged them goodbye–it is crazy how quickly generous strangers become new friends.
It was about 12:30. Our town stop had only taken about 3 or 3.5 hours! Plenty of time to hike 20 more miles today! I felt very rejuvenated and also badass for excelling at our food-centered plan, so walking felt much easier. Wolf Bird and I got in a little tiff around calling a trail angel so we walked apart for much of the day. Probably for the best as this allowed us to walk many miles wuxikly and without breaks. We walked about 18 miles without stopping. Luckily most of it was flat and/or downhill. We passed many northbound hikers. We also met a few new southbound hikers, DJ and a couple that apparently somehow got a ride and skipped the terrible and difficult uphill out of Belden. Must be nice!
We arrived at a major river at around 6pm and debated whether to stop or press on. If we continued on, we’d be camping without water. This is not unusual, but it can be annoying to carry the extra weight of enough water for the evening. We decided that it was still early and we should continue in since we had the energy. We filled up on water and set our about 3 uphill miles to a dirt road. We made up and I felt better.
We found three other southbound hikers already set up at the road, Loco and Badass and another girl. It was extremely most quite-y so we set up as quickly as possible and ate dinner in our tent. We started watching Benjamin Button as we ate dinner.
In total we did just over 27 miles today, plus a stop in town! I was very proud and felt like we were a fine tuned they hiking (and food eating) machine.
Julie, why are your pictures upside down?
love u big
You should do a food blog next time!!!