It felt good to finally get packed and ready to go. This stay was too similar to Gatlinburg.
Said goodbye to Blowin Sunshine and Shiggy, who were going to Damascus. Charlie also decided to go at the last minute, surprisingly.
Hit the road a little after 7 to do the last section of trail in Pearisburg. It was really overgrown and jungle-like. Stray Cat calls it a car wash, since the wet leaves and branches hanging over the trail give you a cleaning as you walk by. Bought breakfast at a store on the trail – sausage and egg biscuit, huge honeybun and frappucino. Yum.
A little tough to get back into the swing of things, but I was anxious to start burning off some of those buffet meals. Lots of strongly flowing streams from all the rain, but otherwise the trail wasn’t in too bad of a shape. Couple of tough climbs, but the miles went surprisingly quick – I’m sure, in large part, to my new Walkman. It really helps me take my mind off the miles and the time.
Very hot and especially humid. Sweat just pours out of my head. As we neared the shelter and the 20-mile mark, the sky darkened and I heard a warning on the radio about a severe thunderstorm and flash flood watch. We picked up the pace, but alas too late. About 10 minutes before we got to the shelter, we were dumped on. Almost like taking a shower! The sweat pouring down my face was incredibly salty.
The shelter is small, but 10 of us are cramming inside. No sense getting the tent wet. The new stove worked perfect tonight, and I was happy to do my own thing. It stopped raining, but everything is damp and musty. Wet clothes, especially socks, smell bad!
Not sure if I wrote about this already, but the miles are really starting to add up. I meant to take notice when we hit the 500-mile mark, but we were so busy it didn’t even register. Now we’re around 637. Seven hundred miles will mean we’re one-third of the way to Katahdin! At this point, I'll say that five or six months of this will be plenty for me. On the other hand, I’m sure part of me will miss living with no real schedule or obligations. We’ll see if that changes...
Said goodbye to Blowin Sunshine and Shiggy, who were going to Damascus. Charlie also decided to go at the last minute, surprisingly.
Hit the road a little after 7 to do the last section of trail in Pearisburg. It was really overgrown and jungle-like. Stray Cat calls it a car wash, since the wet leaves and branches hanging over the trail give you a cleaning as you walk by. Bought breakfast at a store on the trail – sausage and egg biscuit, huge honeybun and frappucino. Yum.
A little tough to get back into the swing of things, but I was anxious to start burning off some of those buffet meals. Lots of strongly flowing streams from all the rain, but otherwise the trail wasn’t in too bad of a shape. Couple of tough climbs, but the miles went surprisingly quick – I’m sure, in large part, to my new Walkman. It really helps me take my mind off the miles and the time.
Very hot and especially humid. Sweat just pours out of my head. As we neared the shelter and the 20-mile mark, the sky darkened and I heard a warning on the radio about a severe thunderstorm and flash flood watch. We picked up the pace, but alas too late. About 10 minutes before we got to the shelter, we were dumped on. Almost like taking a shower! The sweat pouring down my face was incredibly salty.
The shelter is small, but 10 of us are cramming inside. No sense getting the tent wet. The new stove worked perfect tonight, and I was happy to do my own thing. It stopped raining, but everything is damp and musty. Wet clothes, especially socks, smell bad!
Not sure if I wrote about this already, but the miles are really starting to add up. I meant to take notice when we hit the 500-mile mark, but we were so busy it didn’t even register. Now we’re around 637. Seven hundred miles will mean we’re one-third of the way to Katahdin! At this point, I'll say that five or six months of this will be plenty for me. On the other hand, I’m sure part of me will miss living with no real schedule or obligations. We’ll see if that changes...
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