Day 166
Start: Pinkham Notch Stealth Site
End: Stealth Site
Miles Hiked: 9.4
Miles on AT: 1887.5
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I started my day looking forward to an all-you-can-eat breakfast buffet and only 2 more days on trail until Miami, but by the time I sat down to my full plate, I had lost my appetite. I woke up early that morning so I could go back to the Pinkham Notch Visitor Center, eat breakfast, and pick up my bag lunches. When my lunches were by my side and my plate was stacked full, I remembered I had left my battery pack to charge in the hiker room in the basement down below. I’d hidden it behind a bench at 10 pm the night before, but when I went to retrieve it at 7:30 am, it was gone.
Immediately my mind started racing for solutions. I only had 20% battery left on my phone and two whole days of hiking plus a plane ride. That wasn’t going to work! I immediately went to find the clerk and asked if he could look in the janitor’s closet to see if they had taken it for safekeeping by mistake, but it wasn’t there. He filed a missing items report for me, but there really wasn’t anything else he could do. I couldn’t even just buy a new charging cord for my phone because whoever had taken my battery pack also took my wall charger. I was devastated.
Back at my breakfast table, I stared into my food, my eyes welling up with tears. This was too much! I only had two (2!) more days left on trail until my trip and then this happens. My hiking schedule was already tight; I couldn’t really spend an extra day in town to get a new battery pack or charge my phone. My once voracious appetite had dissipated into a cloud of sadness. A man that I had met last night while I was eating dinner there tried talking to me about my hike, but I could only give half-hearted replies as I wiped tears from my eyes. It didn’t help that it was early in the morning; my non-morning person-ness made me extra prone to emotion in the early hours of the day.
Eventually, I finished my sad breakfast, disappointed that I couldn’t enjoy it more nor eat more. I trudged back downstairs so that I could repack my bag and start my day with my phone turned off. As I was packing, a couple came in to prepare for their trip. In between their small talk, the woman asked me how my day was going, and, in that moment, I had to be honest.
“Not that great. Someone stole my battery pack and I still have two days of hiking left.” My eyes still felt red from the tears that I had cried before and the ones that were starting to well up.
She immediately sympathized with me and asked what trail I was hiking. Turns out, her partner had also hiked the Appalachian Trail the year before and was planning to do some trail magic in Maine in a couple of weeks. Our conversation lifted my spirits a bit, and when their other friend walked in, she told him about my troubles.
“Well, I have a battery pack that I’m not using. Should I give it to you?”
In that moment, the floodgates really opened. I couldn’t hold back the tears, and my emotions went from dejection to pure awe and gratitude. When hikers say the trail provides, this is what they mean. I didn’t know this man from anyone, and here he was showing me generosity and kindness in my time of need. My mind was blown. This was true trail magic, and even though it wasn’t the first time I had experienced the trail providing, I was just as grateful and shocked as when it happened the first time.
“You have no idea how much you are helping me right now,” I managed to choke through my tears.
He went back out to his car and got the battery pack. It had all of the ports that I needed and was fully charged. My trail angel’s name was Neils; I tried to figure out some way I could give back to him for giving so much to me, but there was nothing for me to give but his thanks. He said that someone else had stolen his battery pack while out on a bikepacking trip, so he knew how it felt. Hopefully one day I can pay this generosity forward to someone else in their time of need.
After packing up and saying my goodbyes (mixed with another 100 thank yous), I finally made it back on trail. I was still a bit annoyed at the human who had stolen, but I tried to focus more on the wild generosity of the good human. The good meant so much more than the bad.
I had a big day ahead of me. My first climb was the Wildcats, which meant climbing the steepest mile on the AT. At this point, I wasn’t really phased by it because I had climbed so much in the Whites already. Yes, it was steep; yes, I basically had to rock climb; but, no, it wasn’t impossible. At the top, I met two SOBOs, Spooky Noodle and his hiking partner, and chatted with them about Maine. They clued me into a couple of blue blaze options up ahead if I needed to save some time. Spooky Noodle had also hiked the CDT, so we spent way too long chatting about all things hiking. We kept trying to leave, but then another topic would come up that kept us standing around for a few more minutes.
Eventually, I moved on and made my way down to Carter Notch Hut, where I took a short water break. There was one man who recognized me from the Visitor Center; he and his group had come in via another trail and I would likely run into the rest of them on my way up to Carter Dome, which I did.
Today was a bit of a slower day for me. The weather was still gorgeous, but I think my emotional ordeal from the morning was getting to me. I didn’t really want to hike too much, so I decided I could hike a shorter day today than I had planned.
At the next mountain, Mt. Hight, I met Van Gogh and his dog, Riley. I had heard about them before since they had a gnarly night in the Whites (word gets around on trail), so it was nice to put faces (snouts?) to the names. Van Gogh (he looked a lot like Van Gogh) was a quiet, gentle guy who was easy to talk to. We sat for a while on the summit, enjoying the view and the sun, before it was time for me to keep moving.
Not too long after, I found a stealth site and set up for the night. When the moon rose, it was huge and luminous, a pendant suspended in the sky. What a beautiful sight with which to end the day.
And that’s day 166.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.