April 18th - Day 48

We woke up feeling refreshed but sore. We had another fantastic breakfast but there was a lot more people there this morning so the portions were a little smaller, still good though. The gang was pretty sore also doing two 20+ plus days in a row. They wanted to do a short 10 into Pearisburgh, Virginia. Even though I took the day off yesterday I still did 45 miles in 24 hours. I could use a short day. We started late, hiked the 10 in before 3:00 and hit up a Chinese buffet.

April 17th - Day 47

The coolest thing about Woods Hole Hostel is that it's also a farm. All the meals they prepare are made from ingredients they grow on their farm. The breakfasts were famously delicious. Even though we rolled into bed at about 5 in the morning, we woke up in time for 8:00 am breakfast. I grabbed a cup of coffee and helped set the table. They served stuffed French toast casserole. It was so good! They also prepared bacon that came from their own pig. That was the best bacon I've ever had. After breakfast we all went right back to sleep for a few hours. I chose the hammock, napped for a little woke up and ten read some. It was a very relaxing day. After hiking 45 miles we needed it. Eventually all our friends came in and were pretty impressed we actually made it. Dinner was fantastic... pasta and pizza all homemade. I retired pretty early to catch up on sleep.

April 16th - Day 46

The original plan for today was to hike 24 miles to Jenny Knob Shelter. After hiking for about an hour, 4 miles, we ran into Fresh Ground!!! This guy has been giving out Trail Magic from the beginning of our journey on the AT. He's cooked me hotdogs and gave me soup 4 times before today. He is a real Trail Angel! Fresh Ground really out did himself this time because he made us bacon, eggs, and pancakes. We hung out and ate until about noon and we still had about 19 miles to go. We said our thank you's and goodbyes to Fresh Ground and we were off. We all hiked together for about 9.2 miles and took a break. The next shelter that we were staying at was just under 10 miles away. The terrain was super easy all day so we got to the shelter pretty early, around 6:30. I was still feeling really good so I wanted to keep going. I  also wanted to push on because we were going to stay at a really cool hostel the next day and we were 21 miles away from it. I was scared I wouldn't have a spot. Tarzan, Dirty Mike, and I decided to eat dinner and start hiking again at 8:30. Before we left we all looked at each other and told ourselves we were going the full 21 that night, no matter what. We had already done a 24 mile day and it was 8:30 at night and we were planning to do another 21 miles, no excuses. The night hike went really well. There were more animals out and the weather was great. Once 2:00am hit, we all hit a wall. Ou pace slowed down quite a bit but we made it to Woods Hole Hostel at 4:43am and we got in minutes before it started pouring outside. All because of Fresh Grounds awesome breakfast.