Ok, just kidding... We left. Woke up at a casual 7:30/8am and ate breakfast. Packed up slowly, then stopped by the library for one more small shot of wireless internet. Ran into a guy we knew named
Zinan who begged for me to punch him Saturday night. After MANY attempts to get out if it, I punched him. I didn't expect there would be a welt, but a day later, I saw exactly what I had produced. (yikes!) Then we stopped by the laundromat because Pee-Wee was there and he said he had peanut butter cookies to share (he did and they were awesome!). Then we stopped by the Cowboys Cafe because Xan wanted a sandwich. Then we ALMOST stopped at the coffee shop... But luckily we were able to keep moving on. It was 10:45am.
Back to the woods!
Felt pretty good to get back out there, though saying goodbye to luxurious town services after enjoying them for three days was a little sad. The meds I'm taking for the poison ivy is supposed to make me a little hyper, so that probably helped to boost myself up the hills.
Not too bad of a hike today. Good grades and lots of flat. The AT connects with the Virginia Creeper Trail (a bike trail) for a bit, so the hiking wasn't bad, but the weather couldn't decide what to do. It rained, then poured (as I was putting all my rain gear on, of course). Then the sun came out for a while. Then it sprinkled. Then sun. Then rained/poured. I think I put on / took off my rain gear four times. Finally, when I knew we were near the shelter, I just left it all on. In the future, I plan to put on the rain pants if it starts raining hard. My boots ended up getting a bit wet inside because I was caught un-panted when the skys opened up after a long session of light sprinkles. When in doubt, put the pants on.
Got to the Lost Mountain shelter around 5. It was full (we were sure they ALL would be full early with the heavy flow of hikers leaving trail days), but had lots of good tenting spots. We thought about pushing on a bit, but with the rain, it's hard to enjoy it all if you don't have a covered place to stand under to make your dinner. I don't mind a wet tent, but setting up in the rain and/or waking up and packing up in the rain just sucks.
So we stayed. And it didn't really rain. Ate a feast of dinner (the more you eat, the less you carry), then hung out by the fire, trying to dry 12 pairs of socks, boots, tshirts, gear, and other items... (it kinda stunk around the campfire) It will probably rain again, but I'll be sleeping. (dreaming of a dry morning!)
We're getting close to 500 miles!!!
(17.3)
-- Posted from the trail...
Location:Lost Mountain Shelter
2 comments:
That's a heck of a punch. You may need a boxing name to go with your trail name.
I got caught un-panted once. I'm still grateful they didn't press charges.
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