Total trail mileage: 463.5
Starting location: Vandeventer Shelter
Ending location: Damascus, VA
Weather: partly cloudy in the morning. Rain from late morning on,
letting up in the evening. 50-60 degrees during the day
I am at
http://maps.google.com/maps?q=36.631416,+-81.796042
I made it! 33 miles today and 40 miles in a 24-hour period. This was
the furthest I have walked in my life in one day, and is more than
half of my longest day of biking (and that was without a 30 pound
pack). There were three surprises today: (1) I made it even with
little sleep and night hiking last night (2) I maintained a decent
pace the entire day causing me to arrive earlier than expected and (3)
I am not tired from hiking and nothing is really sore. Granted, this
was relatively easy terrain with no major climbs and the few climbs
there were were gradual.
I got up early (but not as early as I had hoped) and quickly packed up
and started hiking. I had plenty of snacks to eat constantly
throughout the day and only stopped a couple times. Lunch, however,
was long and I has a nice solid meal, including one of my dinners.
But, it was raining most of the day. I was as wet as a drowned rat.
The rain was a good thing though. It brought cooler temperatures
which meant a need for less water and a need for less breaks. Also,
as Mouse pointed out, we weren't missing any potential views by
focusing on the miles.
Mouse made it also (nobody else tried), and I am staying with him at
the hostel in town. CampChair is also here. The three of us grabbed
dinner and stayed out for a while.
I nearly stepped on a turtle today. It was on the trail and I thought
it was a rock. Fortunately I had just cleaned the water off my
glasses and noticed it just before I placed my foot.
There were two major milestones today. I have now completed over 20%
of the trail and I HAVE COMPLETED MY THIRD STATE! TN is done, now on
to VA. 11 more states to go. An additional comment on the last
section of TN: waterfalls.
I didn't mention the other day that there is an ongoing forest fire in
the area. We saw the smoke and a helicopter circling when we went
into Hampton. Other thruhikers said they could see the flames on the
ridge the other day. Someone said they saw the map of the fire, and
although very large, the AT stayed out of the danger zone. Supposedly
it was started by arson.
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