On Saturday morning thirteen of us gathered to start our adventure. We arrived at the North end of Travelers Rest where a trail marker posted mile 23 on the trail. Eleven of us began the hike while two adults stayed in the truck to act as support crew. They would drive to various points along the trail to supply us with food and water. Although they don't look like the cheerleaders I'd prefer, they also played that role as we hiked through the day.
We hiked South toward Greenville but by mile four, we had one youth feeling sick. His feet were dragging but when we met up with the support team near Furman they encouraged him to continue on. Two miles later, the support group was picking him up at an intersection. Casualty.
The weather was perfect for a long hike as the rest of us continued on. Although the trail goes through an industrial area, I didn't find the view ugly. It was interesting to see new things and, for an industrial area, looked very clean. The ten of us continued down the trail, mostly walking single file. I noticed that a LOT of people use this trail. Walking, biking, and skating. We saw it all. Everyone was courteous as they passed by warning that they were coming up on our left. Several people recognized us as scouts and one gentleman on a bike quoted the Scout Oath to us from memory.
Lunch was near a church parking lot around mile 7. The support crew, looking refreshed, brought us more water and food to resupply. Two more in our group were starting to complain of foot and leg pain, but nobody gave up.
After reaching mile post 33, our half way point, we turned back toward Travelers Rest. The two with pain were starting to lag behind. By mile 12 of our journey, the support crew was meeting us at an intersection to pick up the two injured hikers. Casualty. Casualty. With the refreshing view of the truck, a third decided to join the injured list. Casualty.
We had another injured youth in our pack and he was starting to get really slow. He felt like he had multiple blisters on his foot and every step was painful. Our mile 16 was near the Furman golf course and we met up with the truck full of support. This was a good place to check on the youth with blisters, and he had several. His foot was in bad shape. I took three youth up to the lake at Furman while we waited to find out the status of the injured. Another youth stayed back and contemplated dropping out.
Although this was a flat and paved trail, twenty miles is still twenty miles. It was not easy.
I sat at the lake edge watching my three boys as they encouraged a large goose to come to them. I asked what they were doing and one replied, "I'm trying to get this goose to bite me." Of course! I should have known. About that time, two girls came walking by with a cat on a leash. The cat was not happy to be going for a walk. I watched them take a break near a tree and the cat clawed it's way up the trunk. The cat was out of reach, but still attached to the leash. Ten minutes went by as they tried to retrieve their terrified cat. Meanwhile, my boys were still trying to get animals to bite them.
It was six o'clock in the evening and the sun was going down. There were four boys and two adults left on this twenty mile hike. We had three miles left to travel. We were all tired and sore, but determined. One boy was starting to hurt pretty bad and was using walking sticks to support himself. It was said that he looked like a wounded spider moving down the trail.
By 6:30, there was almost nobody but us on the trail and we were back in Travelers Rest.
The trail is well marked with mile markers every 1/2 mile. We were making a very consistent pace for the last three or four miles and could estimate, to the minute, the next time we would pass a post. Early in the day, you counted the miles as they passed. After lunch, we'd celebrate each half mile and counted them down. At the end, we were counting the minutes we had left.
It was ten after seven when we reached the post marking our twentieth mile. The support crew and all of our injured hikers were there to greet us. It was dark and they shined flashlights in our direction. They were clapping and high-fiving each one of us as we reached them. It reminded me of the finish line of an episode of the Amazing Race.
With this behind us, we had four boys well on their way to earning the hiking merit badge. Perhaps someday in the future they will schedule another 20 mile hike for the boys that didn't make it. I'll bring my pom-poms for that hike.
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