Dragging myself away from Kincora

Pizza with Traffic Director

Shortest mile day ever, but what a great day. I had a hard time (just as in 2008) pulling out of Kincora, and ended up being the last one there who wasn’t zeroing. I had great conversations with Chupa, Ramblin’ Man, and Cargo—old Vietnam Vets who studied cool languages at the Monterey Institute. When I crawled out of Kincora, I was struck by blooms of my first azaleas and rhododendron of the year and meeting Wise Panther out dayhiking. On the uphill, I met Traffic Director, and we hiked together for a while and ordered pizza together from Pond Flats. He had lived in Japan for a bit, so it was cool to learn about how it was in the 1970s from a foreigner’s perspective.

My first Azalea on the AT

We collected our pizza at the swimming area at Shook Road and I stayed there for a long time until crawling to Vanderventer. It was full, but with a good crowd of hikers and I cowboyed camped and watched the stars. Nice sunset, good views, fun day.