Friends from Home

I walked 58800 steps on the trail today.
I traveled about 28 miles today.
What a wonderful day!
Last year on my Superior Hiking Trail trek, a scout from home and his family surprised me on the trail and hiked with me. Guess what?
Towards the end of our 17 mile roadwalk to Cornell, I saw a vehicle in a parking area along the road with what looked like a couple kids selling lemonade. Papa Bear and I decided we should support the young local entrepreneurs so we walked over. Only then did I recognize it was Benjamin and his family waiting for us to walk by!
They were on a weekend camping trip and followed our progress (Check out my current location on the map.) so they knew we'd be coming by soon. After a short visit and rest, they took our packs while we hiked the rest of the way to the city park. There, we were treated to a marvelous picnic of sandwiches, pop, chips, salad, candy bars, and even pickles - wow!
After lunch, we finished our roadwalk to the trailhead where Benjamin and his dad joined us for a 7.5mile trail walk. Benjamin did a great job finding blazes and leading us at a brisk pace. At the far end of the hike, his mom and sister met us for another snack break.
As it was getting late (and we had eaten most of their food, I expect), we finally hoisted our packs now filled with water for tomorrow and left our good friends to their drive home.
It was a most enjoyable afternoon and a real highlight of the trek for me! I am very grateful for such friends!
To top off the day, we found a new distributed camping area only a haf mile down the trail with flat, clean space and set up camp before dark. Bonus!
Thanks, Benjamin!!!