Mile 300.1
Elevation 4,148
Miles Hiked 6.8
Spent the previous night at the Little Laurel Shelter after an 8.6 mile hike from the previous shelter. As mentioned in the May 5 report, it rained all night and most of the morning. Despite the rain, I got up early and took down the tent. It was very cold again, so I was in a hurry to get moving. I was on my way by 8:15 AM.
Along the trail, I started seeing signs announcing trail magic in Jones Meadow starting at noon. This was a disappointment because I would pass by Jones Meadow well before noon and had no intention of waiting in the cold for a couple of hours. However as I moved down the trail, I came upon a fellow who asked if I was going to attend the trail magic. After explaining that I couldn’t wait until noon, he told me they were serving breakfast right now. So, after three miles, salvation. Trail magic in Jones Meadow, which is just off the AT. I hiked in about 10:30 AM.
They had three tents setup. The first tent was for cooking, and I had bacon, eggs and about six biscuits with real blueberries heated up on the biscuits. These people really know how to do it. Their organization is the Greenville Hiking and Cycling Club. They were very gracious and insisted not only on us eating but also taking food with us. After breakfast, I hit the brownies, cake, hot chocolate and anything else within reach. I ate for an hour. I had no clue I was that hungry. Just as I was about to leave at 11:30 AM, I decided to top it off with a hot dog. What a great time. All the hikers were still talking about it two days later.
Back on the trail and it’s really treacherous – wet, cold and very slippery. At mile 296, the trail went to the ridge or you can bypass it on an easier side trail. I took the ridge, which was all rocks and boulders and very difficult because of the weather. After slipping and falling a couple of times, I made it through. Eventually, I made it to Jerrys Cabin Shelter. That’s right, I hit 300 miles hiking! The intent was to continue on to the next shelter, but then it started hailing follow upped with rain. Given circumstances, I stayed at the shelter for the night and didn’t have to pitch a tent. Still very cold.
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- I stopped at Howard’s Rock on the way to the shelter.
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- This might be a little difficult to read, but if you can enlarge it, I think you will find it interesting how the rock became known as Howard’s Rock.
