#133 Dripping Rock/BRP to Paul C. Wolf Shelter - Day 67: ATMM 850.0 to ATMM 859.3
Long distance hiking is as much mental as it is physical. While the burnout zone effects thru-hikers the most, we LASHers (Long Ass Section Hikers) aren’t immune.....
The alarm on my phone chimes at 6:00 a.m. “I just laid down,” I mumbled while dragging myself out of bed.
The dining room is packed, mostly with hikers. Many of them I’ve run into in the mountains the past two weeks. Bear, Reboot, and Trouble are the only three whose names I can remember right now - because I’m not here to remember names, I’m here to devour waffles and whatever else crosses my plate.
Trouble sits alone at a small table. Across from her sits the only empty chair in the room. I ask if I can sit with her. Bear is seated at the full table next to us. I chat with him and some of the other hikers surrounding us.
Trouble and I brainstorm an inexpensive way to get back to the mountain. The easiest thing to do is to call Uber, but we felt like losers yesterday by calling them when our hitch-hike efforts were a bust. We decide to hold off calling again to see what options present themselves.
We agree to meet back at the dining room in one hour.
Outside the dining room we begin watching to see how the town moves. Shuttle drivers usually drive around areas where they think hikers are hanging out. In this case, a lot of us are hanging out in front of a hotel after a rainy night.
A diver pulls up and yells out,” I’m headed to Yadda-Yadda Trailhead to pick up a hiker, anyone need a ride that way?” By doing this he’ll make money to and from the trailhead. Several hikers file into his van, happy to have a ride back to that area.
Another van pulls up looking for Bear. Someone says he’s walking to Staminal’s Hostel – they somehow missed one another. The driver pulls away.
A third van pulls in. I walk over to ask the price of being dropped of at Dripping Rock Parking area on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He names the price and I motion to Trouble and Evan, the young man Trouble and I had been standing and chatting with, to get in the van.