Day 40

Walker Mountain

Starting mile 524.6

I woke up at 6:30 because I wanted to make it to a restaurant that closed at 4 pm. It was 21 miles away, so I was going to have to move to make it by then. I divided the day in two. The first half was about 10 miles and 1,900 feet of elevation gain. My goal was to get there by 10:30. Then the second half was 11 miles and another 1,900 feet of gain. I wanted to get here by 3:30 pm.

When I got up in the morning it was only about 35 degrees out, so I started hiking in my rain jacket and pants. About an hour in I stopped to put my shorts on and dropped my jacket. I looked at my phone to see how far I’d gone and it was just over three miles.  I was making good time. 

The first half of my day didn’t have any big climbs, just a lot of little climbs.  This made it so I was able to keep up my fast pace. I was thinking I might make it ten miles by 10 am. This is something I sometimes strive to do when I do ‘big days. I was pushing myself to get there. I made it to Partnership Shelter and pulled out my phone, and it said 10:15. I just barely missed my goal.

I took a break at the Visitor’s Center for a snack. I look over and saw ‘Sinatra’ coming up. He took a shower at the shelter. He hung out with me while I ate. Then we both headed up the trail. He wasn’t looking to do as big a day as me so after about an hour he stopped to take a break. It was great to hike with him for a while. I haven’t hiked with anyone in a while. I’m sure I’ll run into him again.

I kept moving because I’ve got a goal. I make it to the Settlers Museum by 2:15. I still had another 2.7 miles to make it to the restaurant.  It looks like I’ll probably make it. I took off on the downhills double timing it to get there. I hit US-11 and looked at my phone, 3:15, I made it! I walked up to the restaurant looking at the door and there is a sign that read ‘Sold Out’. I had made it, but they had sold all their BBQ. I was very sad when I read that sign.

Luckily there was a Mexican restaurant across the street. When I walk in there are a couple of other thru hikers who had also missed out on the BBQ. The Mexican restaurant is good, and they let me hang out for an hour while my phone charged. The other nice thing to happen is that a gentleman that I was speaking with picked up my lunch. This is the second time on this trip that someone has picked up my tab. This is why I’m always happy to talk to people about my trip.

After eating and charging my phone I set out for the 1.7 mile hike out to a camp site.  I got there just after 5 pm. I ended up doing 23.1 miles with about 4,300 feet of elevation gain.

Ending mile 547.7