Tuesday, June 14th

Boots Off Hostel & Campground (428.5 mi) to Double Spring Shelter (452.2 mi)

Hiking Miles: 23.7

Total Ascent: 5,632.9 ft

Total Descent: 3,556.4 ft

Total Grade: 384.6 ft/mi

Steps: 56,168

I had a good night’s sleep in the cabin while listening to the rainfall. A thunderstorm had rolled in as it approached the morning hours. Stevie and I each had two hearty donuts, raisin bran cereal, a banana and coffee for breakfast in the main porch where the hostel put out all their food for the hikers. We sat at the table and conversed with the others. It was there we checked online for a place to stay in Damascus, and likewise inquired if anyone had recommendations. Lady Di’s was one of the top choices so we took a chance and booked a night’s stay (for the following evening) with this relatively new hostel.

Smiles had decided that he was going to aqua blaze today, while others were either slack packing or hiking south (using the shuttle). We decided to continue hiking north (as normal) with our packs.

We stopped at a shelter for lunch after 9+ miles of straight hiking and we met two people – “Splash” (a woman) and a man from Tennessee who said that the last time he was at that shelter, it was 1982 (40 years ago!) and he had left his brother there with a tent and two sleeping bags in the shelter while he went for help. His brother was exhausted and could just not hike anymore. And “help” actually drove up the trail to rescue his brother.

We also met “Pancho” (a two-time AT hiker) @ the halfway point of the day. Pancho was one of the hikers who was slack packing southbound back to the Boots Off Hostel. And subsequently we met a family who had stayed at both the Mountain Harbour Lodge and Boots Off. A young lady named “May” was part of that family group, and she kept talking about the cows she had seen on trail; she was rather obsessed with them. I for sure thought we would eventually see them as we headed north where she had already been.

Overall today, it was a pleasant hike, walking through farmlands, seeing an old barn having a large AT symbol on its side. But we didn’t see the cows that May kept talking about. Perhaps they had retired to their own shelter for the day.

By day’s end, we had hiked 24 miles and stopped at the Double Springs Shelter for the evening along with a woman named “Twister” who talked A LOT. You can learn about that whole story on a video I filmed the next morning.