May 3
End: Blackburn Trail Center
Miles: 26.2
Total: 2867.2
We woke up and I got packed up and left before Swivel and Spiral. We knew it was going to be hot, and we knew that we were going to be doing “The Roller Coaster”, a series of ups and downs which tends to aggravate hikers.
It was the right temperature in the morning, and I was enjoying the hike. Then the sun really heated up and I was sweating like a pig on a roller coaster. Truthfully, I did not mind the climbs and descents so much, but I definitely drank my fair share of water.
I stopped at the turn to The Bear’s Den and did a journal entry or two. When Spiral and Swivel showed up, we all walked to the famed hostel to pick up their mail. Apparently the hostel was not open in the early afternoon, but the hosts were home and were kind enough to get us the package.
We hung out in the hiker room, which was incredible. We wished that we were staying, but knew that we needed to move on. There were nice bunks, a shower, a computer, and a fair selection of movies and television shows. Finally we left, hoping we had waited out the worst of the heat.
We only covered three more miles. I wanted to check out the Blackburn Trail Center because I did not know what a trail center was. This place was awesome, too. The hosts were very nice. They made us spaghetti and brownies, and let us sleep on the porch or the hiker cabin, which had wooden bunks.
We opted to stay and sleep on the porch rather than hike into the dark to get to the next shelter. I was glad to have extended my food supply, and sleeping on the screened porch was actually quite comfortable.
