The next Trail?
Yesterday was a day off, or a 'zero' in hiker parlance -- making zero miles. Does a body good. We met a huge crew of hikers - Jennifer and Margaret from Minneapolis heading southbound for a section. Seuss, Squirrel, Tupelo, Jack in the Green, and more.
Taking a day off in a hiker town is fraught with more dangers than just the hiker black holes of hot water, HVAC, clean laundry, restaurant meals, beer, cars and all the other amenities. There's reading material, like hiker magazines. Suddenly, I found myself not only thinking that I might be finishing the A.T., but it might be the start of a whole lot of other hikes. This magazine had a story about a trail that wasn't even on my radar - the Continental Divide trail. It would be a very different trail; much like the wilderness adventure I thought the A.T. would have been when I was more naive.
Getoverit and I decided we would head out today. One zero mile day was enough. So after lunch, we shouldered the packs and headed out. Walking out, making it around town and heading up the hill, somehow we managed to blow two, 3, 4 hours. Wasn't to be. As we made that stage of the day when it's hard to tell the difference between late afternoon or early evening, we found ourselves -- still in town. We had taken our packs for a walk, and took another zero. Trail towns are hiker black holes. After eating at another restaurant, we headed out to the video store for another flick. A second late night.