We believe in magic!

The trail offers so many amazing things, but this is a shout out to all the trail angels! These are the people who for some reason or another give to the thru-hikers in many ways but mostly through food! You can be walking along the trail, reach a road crossing, and be greeted by a cooler filled with pop and gatorade. Or sometimes you suddenly smell BBQ as you walk and low and behold a trail magic feast! Twice now at shelters angels have brought the trail magic right to us. Rico walked in pizza and a case of beer to our amazement and another angle hiked in a cooler of icecream!

This past weekend was Memorial day weekend and the angels were out in full force! On Sunday we were planning on hiking 25 miles. We woke early and were on the trail by 6:30 to beat the scorching heat we have been dealing with lately. Within 2 miles we had reached a road crossing and there to greet us were past thru-hikers with a delicious breakfast of fruit, doughnuts, cakes, and drinks! We stayed and chatted with them for awhile and learned their plan was to serve lunch as well, just 7 miles up the trail. We set off thinking that it would be great to get lunch as well, but we surely would be well past their planned lunch spot by the time they moved.

We hiked up a huge mountain, sweating and puffing. As we rounded the last corner and could see the top we were met by yet more magic. Another former hiker was camped on the hill with coolers of pop and beer! At this point we realized that 25 miles was not going to happen and we embraced the magic of the day. Beers went down really easily, and as noon approached we headed back down the mountain to the lunch we knew was awaiting us!

Trail magic is one of the unexpected and most amazing pleasures on the trail. It always has the ability to uplift your spirit when you are feeling the most down. The people are out here purely because they love the trail and the trail people. We have already started scheming about how we are going to give back in the future.