Thursday – 4 June

Ahh The pleasure of a real bed with sheets and a pillow. Two ladies hiking the Long Trail shared the bunk room. Everyone tried not to make any noise and all were up by 5:30. Shaman of the couple staying in the semi private room was picked up by his shuttle at 6. The Long Trail hikers left and I made some scrambled eggs with peppers, tomatoes and cheese. Hard to believe but better than my Gatorade bar. Real coffee too!

Shaman and his wife are both retired medical doctors. Shaman has a YouTube channel “Dr. Shaman Hikes the Appalachian Trail” for the older hikers. Rumor is that he will include my selfie with Gray Beard in a future episode. Stay tuned.

Gray Beard’s non trail name is Dale Sanders. In 2017 he set the record at 82 as the oldest AT thru hiker. A thru hike must be completed in 365 days for it to count. In 2021 Nimblewill broke Gray Beard’s record at 83. Gray Beard plans to retake the record at 90. He started his thru hike in September 2025 in Harper’s Ferry going south. After taking the winter off, in April 2026 he started north a mile north of where he started in September with the plan to cover that mile to finish his thru and set the record in Harper’s Ferry. Since Nimblewill is four years younger than Gray Beard, it will be at least four years before he can try to break Gray Beard’s record. Info on Gray Beard is here. You may be able to track his progress here. Some details of logistics here.

Looks like another solo night. The hostel owner left a little while ago and said no one else was expected for the night. There are wonderful homemade frozen meals available so it was a burrito for lunch and chicken pot pie for dinner. I didn’t sleep late so I may turn in early.