6.  Trail magic comes in many forms. 3 days ago we climbed Roan Mountain. It took all morning. We had hoped there would be trail majic (when people either leave a cooler of drinks or food or actually are there passing out food, etc for thru hikers coz you cannot carry enough food and drink in your pack to offset the calories you are burning - we call these kind hearts, trail angels) at the top but no such luck, and again at the next gap one hour later. Resigned we climbed 3 balds (grassed mountain tops) and on the other side as we were descending, I met an angel in the form of a chubby 8 year old. He was one of 8ish boy scout group out for a Sunday hike. He asked me if I had been hiking long, to which I responded: "yes, all the way from Springer Mountain, Georgia", to which he exclaimed: "Awesome" and then I told him I was thru hiking all the way to Maine, he repeated the praise, gave me a high 5 and told me I was doing a "good job". How cool is that! He lifted my spirits and for 30 min my feet did not hurt!