Appalachian Trail (day 16) - Little Laurel Shelter to Hogback Ridge Shelter / mile 317

"The Appalachian Trail's original concept proposed in 1921 was to preserve the Appalachian crests by developing a great trail traversing it's length so as to allow city workers to revitalize themselves and escape the mechanisation of modern society. The dream was to create a footpath of wonder and tranquility" AT Noticeboard

Another warm, cloudy day on the trail and an Easter Sunday. I've kept a little chocolate rabbit from the trail magic and made it few pictures on trail.

Path was going through a second so far exposed ridge line, where you could see both ways without the trees obstructing the eyesight. The views were good but nothing to brag about, on my way down I went past a herd of boys going the opposite direction there must have been over thirty of them, probably a scout group and they were very excited to reach the top, I could hear their screams in the background.

At mile 312 trail was passing next to a Laurel hostel, which was a bit of an exaggeration as it was just a wooden shed owned by a local family of Appalachia people. Tim, one of the Laurel brothers opened a fridge and sold me a can of coke and a microwavable pizza for 5$, then we sat down and had a chat. He and his big family were living here for several generations, they were hunting deer, bear and wild turkey, they knew how to harvest forest plants and were generally living a simple, hassle free life. He said that his hostel business wasn't doing too well this year, and that it was much better "when that movie about wild with Reese Witherspoon came out". I thanked him for the pizza and carried on.

Last on the menu was a long climb to the campsite where I eventually arrived at 5 pm. There was over thirty hikers staying here tonight and it was challenging to find a good place to pitch the tent. I've eventually found one located down hill from the main site, occupied by three older gentleman from Mississippi, their trail names were: Cuddles, Slug and Screamer. Slug thru hiked the trail in 2023 and brought his two friends back this year to section hike for five weeks. They were hoping to finish in two weeks in Damascus, one of the more popular towns on Appalachian Trail, mainly because it was hosting yearly event called "Trail Days".

Everyone seemed to be exhausted, it might have been the mixture of humid, warm weather and quite demanding ridge line section. Soon enough we were all happily snoring in unison.