The Hunger Is Real
May 3
2024
Hello to any of you out there still reading - what are you like I wonder - do you think I’m crazy, brave, or some combination of the two? Well, I’ll tell you what I really am and that is hungry!!!!!! The hiker hunger has arrived, my friends. I have made it into Tennessee at this point, passing both my 200 and 300 mile markers and I am ravenous not only for miles but for anything with a high caloric value. Incidentally, do you all know about sugar? It's amazing! Things taste so much better with sugar in them!
The Smokies, the part of the trail that passes through Great Smoky Mountain National Park, ended up being a gorgeous, if rainy, region of drifting mists, moss covered pines, and mountain views above the clouds that felt like we were looking out over a fluffy sea. Despite the warnings of a high black bear population in that region, no bears were seen on the actual trail, although we've had two occasions now of seeing them roadside out of car windows. We made some good time through the mountains only pausing to spend two days in Gatlinburg which is a bizarre kind of mountain-themed, Vegas/Times Square hybrid with a healthy appreciation of all things moonshine and beer. Oh my god, beer! It's been placed on a pedestal. Something about such heavy hiking seems to make the body call out for it like a vital nutrient. Must be the carbs.
And maybe you clocked the change in pronoun usage - we are, in fact, a we now. A tramily has indeed formed out of us late sleepers and we have been hiking together ever since the second week on trail. There’s me, Maps, Sandals, Catnip, Moon Unit and Tree Beard. We are now a fearsome fivesome and starting to pull some bigger miles. Not only has our hunger truly arrived but we have finally been gifted with our trail legs, feeling fitter and stronger and able to endure more every day. As we speak, Sandals and I are conspiring to try to convince the group to try and pull our first twenty mile day tomorrow - we’ll see how well that goes over. In the meantime I will bask in the truly awe inspiring plate of food that has just been set in front of me. A veritable cornucopia of all things fried and cheezy. Finger food really hits the spot these days. Our tastes have really regressed to grade-school levels, but is it truly a regression? Maybe it's just the truth at the heart of all things.