I just went on such a great run. It was pretty hard towards the end, more mountains than I expected, I kept losing the trail, I ran out of water, the trail was a river (we've had a lot of rain lately).
I met such great people along the way. The first guy I met at the parking lot. He looked older, mid-40s, receding white hair, carried a buck knife around his hip. Thick New Yorker accent. He had just run up and down these steep mountains. He started telling me about running in moccasins on the rocky mountain trails, I couldn't believe it. He said, "You run in moccasins on these trails for a few months, you'll get great coordination. You'll be a FUCKING DANCER!" He was funny.
Then I met a guy at the "Bobcat" shelter that was section hiking the AT. He said he was cold, and he looked like he was shivering, but it was hard to tell since he also stuttered when he talked. I'll call him Shiver-Me-Timbers. He didn't want to get out of his sleeping bag and didn't want to go get soaked and cold in the rainy day. I told him about my Peace Corps application, and he said his friend did Peace Corps in China, and absolutely loved it. That got me pumped about Peace Corps.
Lastly, I met a couple eating lunch on the Highland trail. They were standing there, their belongings blowing all over in the gusts, eating sausages. They sounded Russian, or maybe that was just because they had food in their mouth, or maybe a combination of both. Heh. I asked them how they were doing in the rainy day and the lady said, "Y'know, you have to go, in whatever weather, it will be better tomorrow, next day. The waterfall was BEAUTIFUL. Very strong and big. I would not have seen it like that had we not hiked today."
Hikers are my favorite!
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