Waking Up On the Appalachian Trail by N. B. Hankes

Author:N. B. Hankes
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Memoir, Appalachian Trail, Outdoor Adventure, hike, hiking, thru-hike
Publisher: N. B. Hankes
Published: 2020-04-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Day 76

Trail Mile 995

We sat in the shade at the edge of a highway-side scenic parking area. A warm breeze rushed out of the valley below, evaporating the sweat on my shirt. Dylan eyed the passengers of a car as it parked and said, “I can always tell, trust me.” He stood up. “Excuse me, fellas,” approaching two strangers, “got any grass?”

A frail man with a curly mop and khaki shorts stopped to face Dylan: “Why? You a cop?” His friend, a stout and furry older man with a gnarled ponytail, hung out in the background, leery of the unsolicited interaction at the edge of Pennsylvania Highway 501.

“Do I look like a cop?” Dylan grinned at the question. If the tattered pants and sweat-stained pearl-snap shirt hadn’t been enough of a sign, the massive beard and Willie Nelson ponytails surely helped. He’d pass for a railroad hobo before an undercover agent.

“Me and my buddies are thru-hiking the trail, man.”

“No shit!?” the mop-headed stranger replied, scanning Ben and me. “I’ve always wanted to hike the AT.” His face softened, and he glanced back at his partner. He paused as if he wasn’t yet sure of us. “Where’d you start at?” he asked, giving us one last question to test our authenticity.

“Mount Katahdin in Maine. We’re all three of us going SOBO. We’re just looking to score some dope.”

“Well,” he said while regarding our outfits and packs, “we just brought out this cooler of beer and a pinner.” He motioned at his pocket with the cooler in his hands.

“Thing’s small, just enough for two guys to get stoned. We like to pull off at this turn off, catch a buzz, and then walk south on the trail a couple hundred yards to relax at the overlook. It’s beautiful—Pennsylvania farm fields and forests out to the horizon. It’s an excuse to get out of Philly and away from the girlfriend if nothing else.”

“Sounds like a good afternoon. Nothing better than catching a buzz and enjoying nature,” Dylan concurred, still working for an advantage. I watched in awe at Dylan’s stoner instincts.

“Hell, you guys want a beer?” the stranger asked. “Brought a twelve pack. The name’s Chad by the way.”

We all shook hands before grabbing Heinekens from the cooler.

The five of us popped off the caps and, with a tentative nod at each other, took our first swigs of beer. We stood in a circle around the cooler, half in the shade and half out.

“This must be a real treat for you guys. Us two, shit, we can get beer anytime we want.”

A phone rang, a foreign sound on the trail. The ponytailed man stepped aside and reached into his pocket. “Gotta take this,” he said in a gruff snort, answering his phone while walking outside of earshot.

“Finish these up quick, and we’ll have another round, guys,” Chad said, nodding his head in excitement.

Ben reached down and set his empty bottle back in the cooler, giving a grateful nod as he grabbed another. The ice-cold liquid in the midday heat was an unexpected boon.

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