Day 51: Hot and Hot

Woke up later than everyone else, but breakfast was just about to be served. Good timing. I helped Jeanne and Wendy make my recipe for breakfast strata (shout out to Sarah!) the night before, so we had strata, bagels, fruit, blueberry coffee cake and cereal. Yum. I love big breakfasts.







After we ate, Wendy and Jeanne laid out a bunch of snacks they got for us, and we all kinda split up to get out gear in order. Packing up. We got everything in the cars and were on our way to the outfitters in Daleville. Neutron had two packages to pick up from his family. A good one from an uncle and another fun office package from his mom. Good stuff, package-senders!!!

At the outfitter, Achilles got a new pair of shoes, I got a new sleeveless shirt (sent all my winter stuff home, finally), Left Field and Neutron each got new insoles, and Xan thought about getting a new pack but ended up band-aiding his current pack with zip ties. We picked up a few things at Kroger before heading over to the trail head.







Goodbye to Jeanne and Wendy again (but we will get to see them AGAIN in a few more days!!! Not for an overnight stay - just a drop off and drive around Big Island - but we are all thrilled to get more face time with our trail angels :)

So, they drove off and we put on our packs. It was 1pm and it was 90 degrees out. Twenty seconds after the packs were on, we all collectively came to the conclusion that it was far too hot to start uphill hiking, so we walked 40 yards over to the Pizza Hut for an air-conditioned mail drop planning session (and a snack). Sometimes it's hard to get going.

We did actually get some planning done though (mail drop info at the bottom). The pizza was good and the water was iced. We ended up leaving around 2:15, and it was still hot. But we actually hiked out. Hot hiking for the 5 miles to the first shelter. Sweaty! And Achilles had a tick on him. Together were able to get it out, but we are all getting paranoid. By the time we got to the second shelter, Left Field said he knocked off two while walking, and Neutron had one in his leg! Ahh! I will definitely be on tick alert for the next few days.

Made dinner at and took over the empty Wilson Creek shelter. We're all sleeping in a row tonight. I'm blogging while the boys are giggling and snacking on fruit snacks. Tomorrow we will hang out at Jennings Creek, and if the weather is like it was today, we will all be swimming.

(11.2)


Mail Drop News:

Waynesboro Family YMCA (648 South Wayne Ave, Waynesboro, VA 22980)

Appalachian Outdoors Adventures (18 E. Main Street, Lurray, VA 22835)

Front Royal Post Office (120 East 3rd Street, Front Royal, VA 22630)

Appalachian Trail Conservancy (PO Box 799, Washington Street, Harper's Ferry, WV 25425)

Doyle Hotel (7 North Market Street, Duncannon, PA 17020)


-- Posted from the trail...

Location:Wilson Creek Shelter