I spent last night on the Appalachian Trail -- but no banjo players! I stayed at the Bear's Den hostel. It was a very cool place. I was there with a group of Appalachian hikers. The hostel is about halfway up the trail and most of those hikers had been hiking for a couple months. One man was biking the trail.
I got a good look at what I could look like in the future. Most of the men were bearded and pretty thin. A few of them said they'd lost around 20 lbs since walking. They were all in good spirits and seemed healthy, but hungry. They said that they are able to walk more now than when they had started.
What's cool is that they all have trail names with which they identify each other. For example, some of the individuals I met yesterday were: Spitfire, Ninja, Old Spice, Steamer, etc. It's like a real-life mmorpg . . . but not quite. A little girl who lived at the hostel (daughter of manager) gave me a picture she drew. We all mostly sat around and talked. Most of them knew each other from running into one another on the trail and at rest stops. They gave me some advice for my walk.
Today I was walking along highway 7 through the Appalachians when a red SUV hit a deer about 100 yards in front of me. I wasn't looking at the point of impact but heard a thud. At first I just thought it was a large truck/semi rattling its cargo but looked past a passing car to see a deer bound into the woods. On the road was the SUV with its bumper hanging off and its left side lights and reflectors destroyed. I drove past me slowly and pulled over. On the road was another deer writhing on the ground. Just as I reached it another car hit it so I jumped out of the way to avoid any mess.
A few miles down the road there was a large burnt spot on the side of the road headed into a grassy median. When I reached it there was lots of small debris: glass, metal, plastic. There was a cross stuck into the burnt grass. Pretty dreary, wet day.
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