Day 83

Weather:
Sunny and Hot, no rain.

Today's Hike:
Tye River to Reeds Gap - 10.6 miles

When Georgia's Girls stayed at the Dutch Haus B&B in Montebello, one of the owners told them about a new brewery that had just opened up not far from Reeds Gap. The seeds of desire for cold beer and food were planted and soon thereafter there was a fieldtrip in the works. The eight of us (Prarie Dog, Angry Beaver, Georgia's Girls, Early Bear, & ourselves) hiked our butts off that morning and made our way down into the gap and to the brewery. When we arrived we were a bit intimidated by how nice the brewery looked from the outside, and here we were smelly and wearing nine days of unwashed grunge. As Muster walked up to the door the owner of the restaurant, Steve, came running over to meet us excited to see that thru-hikers were discovering his new place. I was stunned and relieved.

We were quickly seated and overwhelmed by the beer and food choices. Our server was amazing at helping us pick a beer that we should like, and she was spot on every time. There is definitely a beer for everyone here. If beer isn't your thing, they have a full liquor bar that serves up cool refreshing margarita's and fabulous sangria's! The food choices were amazing also, and there were plenty of vegetarian options, which has been a rarity on the trail. For lunch I had a veggie burger that was incredible! Steve came by to check on us about halfway through lunch, and stayed to chat with us awhile about our northward journey. After a few beers later we had an offer to camp in the field across from the restaurant and we were chillin' outside listening to the Dubsetters, an awesome reggae band.

Around 4:00pm we walk over to set up camp, then headed back over around 6:00pm for dinner. Dinner started off with a veggie plate and veggie nacho appetizer, courtesy of the management team. For dinner, I had a Portobello Philly; also amazing! For dessert I had warm, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies with vanilla ice cream. The cookies practically melted in my mouth – have I said amazing yet?!!?