Appalachian Trail (day 26) - Glade Mountain to Quarter Way Inn / mile 556

"Few years ago we had a fire that burned our neighbourhood, it was called Cinnamon Ridge, so I went up there, crossed the "Ridge" from the sign and wrote: Cinnamon Toast" Anniversary

Today I've completed the quarter of the Appalachian Trail, what other way to celebrate it than to stay at Quarter Way Inn!

Day started with rain and fog as it happens every 33% of time on the AT according to statistics. I had 8 miles to go before reaching  an Interstate Highway which had two petrol stations and a Mexican restaurant. I've arrived there at 10 AM, did a fairly costly resupply at one of the stations and waited until 11 AM until the restaurant opened.

Once it did, I've ordered a "burrito grande" the card reader wasn't working so I paid with cash and since I didn't have exact amount waitress just waived her hand and said that 12$ is enough (the actual bill was 13.98$) later she also threw in a pot of salsa and a bag of tortilla chips for free, muchas gracias seniorita! Food was excellent, it also stopped raining and the sun came out. I've hanged around until 12 while charging my phone and then went back on trail.

Initially I've hiked with Rhino for few miles, his girlfriend dropped him back on trail just in front of me, after they've spent a night in town. Rhino (real name Ryan) was doing good progress and was planning to finish the hike by tend of June.

At 2 PM it started to rain again, this time it was accompanied by flash and thunder, which made me think about staying at the hostel that had been recommended to me called Quarter Way Inn. I was in two minds about but I needed to recharge both myself and the devices. Quarter Way Inn was famously serving the best gourmet breakfast on the entire Appalachian Trail (according to Platinum-Blazing the Appalachian Trail book, 2024 edition - which I picked up at.. the Quarter Way Inn.)

The place was an old and mostly rebuilt 18th century house with an enormous and beautiful sycamore tree in front of it. There were six other hikers staying here tonight, I didn't catch up all their names (two of them were section hikers) but notably I remembered an older couple names: Anniversary and Historian.

Anniversary was completing her thru hike of the AT which she started in.. 1975! Yes, it was the 50th anniversary of her initial hike, she has skipped only Virginia and Mount Katahdin back then so she didn't have too much left to go. Her partner, Historian was accompanying her. Anniversary was full of stories about her animal encounters. She said that once she spotted her mum weeing on top of a rattle snake, she told her to jump away at her signal while she threw a big rock on top of it. Or how the deer last night were huffing and puffing at them at the campsite, or how she was trying to chase away a black bear that ruined her garage door but ended up being chased back by it. She was an absolute joy to listen to and her bright disposition really animated the whole house.

I did the usual chores and made sure my phone and the battery pack were fully charged for the next portion of the trail. I've had a pepperoni pizza (9$), an ice cream (1$) and a can of coke (1.25$), which considering the lovely burrito and breakfast I was having tomorrow was the most nutrition I had since starting the trail.

At about 8:30 PM everyone slowly settled to bed, talking about next challenges waiting ahead. I've taken few more notes from the Platinum-Blazing the Appalachian Trail (best ice cream and best burger on the AT being my favourites) and so well fed with food and knowledge I finished the day contempt.