#114 Woods Hole Hostel to Symms Gap - Day 53: ATMM 625.4 – ATMM 649.2
I am alone, exhausted, but not sleepy. I wait. I write. I read. I breath the mountain air.
It’s each hiker’s responsibility to strip the linens from their bunks and replace them for the next hiker. I grab the clean sheets and pillowcase from their storage area, then climb up into the loft to make the switch. If every person does a little, no one person has to do it all.
Several hikers join the morning yoga session in the yard in front of the main house, including my tramily.
From the porch I look to the next mountain on my journey while consuming the last of my coffee and oatmeal, but the mountain isn’t there. A heavy fog has consumed it. Soon, the fog will consume me.
After settling up with the hostel for my meals and second night’s stay, Uncle Lody paid for my first night to pay me back for his half of the trail pizza last week, I grab my gear and hit the trail.
In true Appalachian Trail (A.T.) fashion, the trail goes up as soon as it leaves the gravel road. The green tunnel is narrow here. The wilderness tightens. The damp leaves of trailside bushes and tall grass soak me from shoulder to toe. I don’t care that I’m wet. I’m melting back into forest as though I was born here, live here, and will die here, and become part of the forest forever.
It’s peaceful here. Sound doesn’t travel far within these dense trees. The green of the trail is dark. The ground rocky. The air is gray and air is damp.
A hiker hikes lightheartedly.