The weather report has been changing by the hour. Originally there was a thunderstorm expected last night. By the time evening rolled around yesterday the storm was pushed up to today. By this morning the storm was pushed back to tonight. It actually rained off and on today. The sun appeared briefly once or twice, but the main feature of the day was mud. All day long we were slipping and sliding and getting filthy with soggy feet. This morning we caught a ride with a trail angel back to the trail from Marion with full packs from our resupply. We passed an old school from 1869 that was stocked with trail magic inside from a local church. There were bins full of snacks, coolers with soda, fresh fruit, and hiker supplies. We hung out for a bit and moved on to the main feature of the day: The Barn, a big restaurant right off the trail as it crosses under I-81. We had a late lunch/early dinner, complete with berry cobbler for dessert before heading out a few more miles to camp. It’s so nice to take off wet socks and put on dry ones. It’s also nice to make camp without having to cook dinner. We are camped at a dry campsite and so we are alone at mile 547. This mile marker is officially a quarter of the way through the trail! It will rain tonight, but the sun is supposed to come out tomorrow (we’ll see). We hiked 14.8 miles today.
