We are Angels. Where are our Halos?

Trail magic has a win win outcome. From experience, receiving trail magic is one of the most wonderful things a hiker can find on the trail. Also from experience, giving trail magic is a lot of fun. Saturday Danae and I went on a day hike with her aunt Karen. We hiked a total of four miles. All we brought with us were two backpacks full of fruit and cookies. We only saw about 6 thru hikers, but most were very grateful for the unexpected snacks. Notice I said "most". There was one guy who rejected our offer of fruit and cookies. I think the sun must of been getting to him. No hiker in their right mind will reject trail magic. However, there was another hiker on the other side of the spectrum. We said "do you want a bag of cookies and a fruit". He said "I'll take 8 bags of cookies and 3 oranges". Wow!!! We were glad that he was able enjoy it.

Sunday we went to church at Faith Christian Fellowship near Hageratown. Being able to go to church is another thing that we've learned to appreciate more while on the trail. We love singing along with a congregation and talking with fellow Christians. We would often listen to sermons on our iPods and Rend Collective (a worship band), but it isn't the same as being at a church. The bible says "where there are two or three gathered, there am I". Danae and I only make up two which I guess is good enough, but being in a church with hundreds is like a fail-safe. After church and lunch we went outside and scrubbed all of our stinky, dirty gear. Tent, sleeping bags, tarp, rain poncho, backpacks, everything needed de-stinkafied. After spending several hours of hard work and letting everything dry in the blazing sun, our gear smells as good as a day-hiker's armpit. (That is a good smell).

Today, Monday, Danae's grandpa and I went out to a road crossing to grill burgers and hotdogs while Danae stayed with her grandma and baked more goods for tomorrow. The road we went to was a gravel road near a beautiful creek. There were already 2 guys sitting there taking a break when we arrived. They were pretty excited when they saw us take out a grill and two coolers. After feeding them another hiker came. After him three more came. By the end of the day we had about 8 hikers stop by and fed them a total of 16 burgers and 7 hotdogs. We also had chips, oranges, apples, doughnuts, cookies, and lemonade. We still have leftovers which means we planned well and had plenty of food. It was fun talking to the hikers. I was easily able to carry a 40 minute conversation with any of them just because we were all AT hikers and experienced the same things over the past 2 months. I saw one familiar face. We met a girl named Pockets in the smokies. She is from Switzerland. When she came she was so confused. She recognized me, and knew I was a hiker, but it just confused her when she saw me grilling and not hiking. We also asked everyone if they know Neon or Rod N Reel. Almost everyone was familiar with the names. Apparently they are about a week away from where I was at today. Hopefully we will see them tomorrow if we do trail magic in Bonsboro instead of the northern part of Maryland.

Tomorrow Danae and I will do a long day of trail magic. Grilling and then later hiking and handing out baked goods.

Cleaning our gear.