The Lookout

May 10-11, 2025

Fort Franklin Road to Rt. 309

Mile 1246.9

Phil and Julie had a busy day planned, so they dropped me off fairly early at the road crossing. I only had a few miles to walk until I arrived at the hostel, so I took my time. 

When I got to the Lookout, I hadn’t expected the view to be quite so spectacular despite the clue of the name.

It was still pretty early, but everyone except Trash Tye had already set out: for once, it looked like it was going to be a beautiful day. 

Maybe it was the weather, but the view from the hostel was one of the best I’d seen so far

Trash Tye had strongly considered taking a zero—she hadn’t had a break in 9 days—but the loveliness of the day was hard to resist. She compromised by taking a leisurely morning at the hostel, leaving in the afternoon, and hiking short miles to a campsite to stay for the evening. We got to talk for a while, and it reminded me how much better I like getting to know folks one-on-one than in bigger social situations like we had at Eckville. Trash Tye seems like such a cool person; I was glad to have had the chance to know her better.

Just before she headed out, three older gentlemen came in. They were section hikers, and in a huge contrast to yesterday’s packed house, it looked like they would be the only other folks in the hostel this evening. I took care of resupply, did laundry, indulged in a hot shower, confirmed a meetup time with Amanda and Matt, and squared away some more draft posts for the blog in an effort to catch up. All in all, it was a very productive day, even if the clear weather was calling me to get walking.

As I was finishing dinner, the three guys came in from where they’d been playing cards (I think) outside. Somehow, I ended up at the dining room table playing Euchre with Bob, Lew, and Gabby. It was an evening of good conversation and laughs. I know I’ve probably played Euchre before at some point, but I couldn’t remember anything about it, so my bids were off occasionally and I didn’t always understand how the points were working out, but stuff like that never really stands in the way of a good time, in my experience at least.