Bubbles Day 40 (Friday, May 6th, 2016)

Today we woke up to rain. So much rain it felt like it was coming from all directions.  It's hard to get up and pee when Mother Nature is peeing on you.  And it's cold.  We got ready and had coffee with our new friends Karma and Mountain Man.  We are heading to Eckville shelter.  It rained so hard that I had to just laugh.  Man it's crazy hiking in weather like that.  

We were excited to see the view from the pinnacle, but the rain prohibited us from seeing anything but fog.  I really feel close to karma after our hike today.  We had a heart to heart about life and family and it made me feel like she understood me better as a person.  And I felt like I know her a lot better.  It was a conversation that I won't forget.  Sometimes it's crazy how connected you can feel to someone you just met. I know we will have a long friendship. She is an amazing person.

When we arrived at the shelter we were so happy to get dry and warm. We tried calling about 20 different places to see if we could order pizza.  We had run out of hope and were about to make a dehydrated meal when Mick (the caretaker of the shelter) asked if we wanted to get pizza.  He saved the day.  The warm pizza was so good it.  Thanks Mick. I've heard he can he grumpy, but I thought he was amazing!!

We met some hikers today who started in Georgia.  Some were great.  Some were not so great. Thank you Dad for teaching me about the Appalachian Trail and for instilling in me the respect that the trail and everyone on it deserves. Some thru hikers think they own the trail.  They think they deserve the best spot in the shelters and some special treatment.  My dad taught me that the trail is for EVERYONE! Not just for thru hikers! Section hikers, day hikers, weekend warriors, people from overseas, EVERYONE has a right to be on the trail.  It's not just for us.  We aren't special.  We should not expect trail magic or special treatment.  Some hikers act as if they do deserve special treatment.  It's people like that, that give all of us a bad name.  Almost everyone has been great, but a few bad eggs can ruin the whole batch.  I hope they learn that we ALL belong on the trail.  I also hope that the NoBo’s who started in Georgia are nicer to Flipflop hikers, weekend hikers, and day hikers.  This also makes me wonder how much my dad ran into this type of behavior when he was hiking with over 20 Boy Scouts!

Yep, we need to climb up these rocks