Pleasant Days

On Monday the 20th the warm humid weather is here.  Maybe to stay?  Maybe for just a few days? 

I'm seeing more familiar faces now. More people are doing rougphly the same 18-20 miles per day so I see them more than just once. There are still a few faster hikers who fly by doing massive daily miles in Virginia, and also some who started a month before me and are going slower to fully enjoy the trail. But it's nice to see familiar faces.  I've been hiking with Shaman since Daleville.

Sleeping Beauty suggests a soak in Jennings Creek and three of us join him. It feels great.

The day ends with a hot 3000 foot climb in last five miles. The sweat pours off my forehead and drips off my glasses and nose. I just keep pounding more water and food and get to the Cornelius Creek Shelter, exhausted from the 18.4 miles.

Tuesday is similar weather and again the four of us cool off in a stream as we hike the 19.9 miles to Glasgow, which has a hiker shelter and shower. 

In Wednesday, we hike 20.0 miles to Brown Mountain Creek Shelter again with a nice mid-day swim. However I run a losing race against a thunderstorm which breaks into rain just six minutes before the shelter.

I'm sleeping in the shelters more frequently now. The other hikers all go to sleep early too, and I sleep through any snoring. One night Sleeping Beauty sang softly in his sleep. A fine musician who is even carrying a guitar, it makes a pleasant backdrop. 

On Thursday we hike 22.4 miles to

The Priest Shelter. That's more than I really need but is based on the spacing of the shelters, and thunderstorm are forecast again. It is a tough day with  uphill all morning and then again at the end of the day. A heavy thunderstorm builds mid-day, darkening the forest, silencing the birds and blowing cold. I gear up and then snuggle under a leaning tree when it really pours. Shaman timed it perfectly, ducking into a shelter for the deluge. For the rest of the afternoon more storms threaten but do not materialize so I keep putting rain gear on when it threatens and taking it off when I get hot. 

On Friday we hike 20.3 miles to Dripping Rock, an overlook in the Blue Ridge Parkway. 

The initial downhill seemed to become uphill all morning. We meet Spirit on Blue Ridge Parkway mid-afternoon and I do my first slack pack for last 4.6 miles. 

This week has been pretty consistent miles, allowing for slower miles in the tough northeast. 18-20 miles seems like a good range in this section, while I get more tired beyond 20.