Today's miles: 12
Total miles: 1738
We slept in, packed up, and left the hotel by 11:00 check out time. We were reluctant to leave the adorable town of Ashland, but it's always wise to get out of town and back on trail as soon as you can. Towns are tricky vortexes that suck you in and take your money and convince you that real life is so much more comfortable than trail life. Yet, for some reason, trail life tends to be the one that feels more natural once you get free of town again.
Treekiller, Sunshine and I went grocery shopping for our resupply and got picked up by Katie and Bryan at 2:00 to head back to the trail. Sunshine and Treekiller opted to stay at Callahan's a little longer tonight to recharge their phones and get a final meal, so Katie and I got on trail by ourselves. Sneaks, Mudd and Dingo had started hiking earlier this morning, and Wocka Wocka and Giddyup decided they wanted to take another zero in Ashland and said they would catch up to us in a few days.
Katie and I hiked twelve miles tonight. It was hot and muggy but the trail was relatively smooth so we made good time. We stopped around 7:00 near a lovely meadow and pond and met up with some of the hikers we had been leapfrogging with in the past few days: the Magic Schoolbus (Moonshine, Leaky and Sagi), Horny Toad, Sexy Legs, Lullaby, Hitch and Birddog. I had never met Lullaby before, but I quickly discovered how he got his trail name: he carried with him a Native American flute which he played every night before bed. The sound was hauntingly beautiful and it was a perfect way to end the evening, lulled to sleep by the music.
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