Town today!! The day started off freezing cold in the 20s but surprisingly warmed up to the nicest it’s been in weeks, nearly 60 degrees. I was hiking in a t-shirt and shorts for the first time in as long as I can remember. It’s amazing how much my mood is affected by the weather, as I was so much happier with the sun and warmth. The trail coincided with a bike path for part of the day and we ended up talking to some people biking the rail trail. These particular people hadn’t ever heard of people thru-hiking the AT so they were beyond amazed at Delta and I, asking tons of questions and saying how impressed they were with us. It was flattering and kind of funny how much of a celebrity we felt like. They took our photo and then later when we got to town we went into a local gear shop and found this same couple browsing backpacks, saying we’d inspired them.
Hiking was good today but it felt like it took forever to get to town because I was so eager to get there. We are taking the day off tomorrow, the first zero day since Vernon NJ–way back in September. I am SO excited to relax and take a break. I’m even more excited because it just so happens that the weather is supposed to be freezing cold, rainy, and snowy and I DONT HAVE TO WALK IN IT! I have under 500 miles left, so I’m really excited about that. I don’t have an exact end date planned, but it’s definitely doable to finish in a month or less from now. So a month from now I may be done. It’s crazy how close I am, but at the same time 500 miles is still a ways to go. I’ll get there eventually though!