Day 16 & 17 (241.8-274.9)

Woke abruptly at 3 in the morning to the sound of thunder in the bunkhouse at Standing Indian… turns out, this was just the elusive Mike (the dog guy) who wasn’t in the bunk next to me when I went to bed. I woke up early the next morning and gathered food from the hostels pantry for a resupply and took off to climb some mountains. Snowbird being the biggest out of my two day stretch to Hot Springs, it was a good warm up first thing in the morning, 3000 feet up over 4 miles, my legs were on fire. 

Mid afternoon and making my way over Snowbird, I stumbled down towards Brown Gap where I had planned on taking a “pack off” break and eating lunch. The downhill was graded rather nicely and it made the walk a little more enjoyable. As I reached the gap I noticed a wooden sign placed off the side of the trail, us hikers usually stop to look at the wooden signs because they tell you where you’re at, what attractions/features are close by, etc. This one happened to read “Trail Magic Ahead”. Overwhelmed with joy I sprinted down the mountain to meet the trail angel “Apple”. A man from Ohio who drives all over the country to feed hikers doing long trails. A pleasure it was to meet him and eat his food.

The following day and a half filled with pointless ups and downs with one major scenic spot “max patch” - the climb up to max patch was a bit of an adrenaline rush, as I raced up the trail in an attempt to beat the clouds that soon engulfed myself and several day hikers, muddying the 360° views of the mountains that surrounded us. The fog and rain set in and an opportunity was lost. You win some, you lose some. That trend continued until I reached Hot Springs, just in time as the weather turned sour again just as I arrived into town. I planned on taking my first intentional zero to catch up with an old friend “RD” who had completed his thru hike in 2019 a few months after I left trail to go home. Excited for a day of rest, not excited for the food poisoning that followed the day after…