Good Vibes at The Farm

I’ve been at The Farm hostel for the past two days with my hiking buddies waiting out the cyclone. It’s hard to find the words to describe how cool this place is. It is a working dairy farm and they also welcome hikers and have a staff of young friendly workers from all over the world that help milk cows, raise vegetables and take care of this sprawling and chaotic hostel. There are dogs, kids, cats and hikers all milling about cooking, playing guitar, joining in card games and sharing stories from the trail. If I am going to join a cult this is the one.

It’s been raining nonstop and the wind is howling outside but the energy inside is amazing. Everyone is helping out, sharing food and just being kind. The owners love having everyone take over their home. The dogs seem to love it too. I don’t have a good handle on exactly how many there are but they bang their paws on the glass door when they want in and out and the cats sneak around with them. We have been resting our feet, organizing our packs and sharing pictures from the trail. One of the hikers is a yoga instructor and she lead us in a stretching class in their open air yoga studio overlooking the pasture during a heavy rainstorm. It gave me a chance to work through some back pain and also a moment to reflect on this hike so far.

We borrowed a car and took a harrowing journey to the dairy for dinner supplies. The winding beach roads are pretty technical – add right driving into the mix and it becomes quite a ride. They all teased me pretty hard for trying to drive from the left front passenger seat. Yeah – control issues big time. But, we made it back in one piece with a car full of supplies for dinner and cooked up a big meal together. We watched the rugby World Cup match and finished off the evening playing guitar next to the fire and a long game of Farkle.

When things are good on the Trail they are really really good. I’m at home here. We come from so many different places but we belong to each other for this short time in our lives. We are sharing this goal and adventure. Not sure if we are going to make it but taking the time to help each other along. This brings me back to my sweet Dynamo days. We trained, traveled and raced together in some beautiful places. It was a family built on shared goals. We pushed each other hard and were bound by achieving some pretty ambitious goals. I’ve always been drawn to this place where people work as a team under hard conditions. It’s what makes these thru hikes so special to me and I’m so happy to be back here.