Wood's Hole

The sun doesn't shine down as early when you're deep in a valley, subsequently the birds stay quiet a little longer. Waking up to eat breakfast right next to a beautiful river is very nice, so I took a little extra time to masticate.
Setting out at 9am, I was welcomed back with 6 of the easiest miles I've walked to date. Walking beside the winding river and tributaries, I made my way to a shelter for a quick early lunch.
I enjoyed a couple of my pizza tortilla wraps while chatting with Yin, Yang, and Palm Tree. It was brief, but energizing, which I knew I would need for what was yet to come.
Right off the bat the trail went uphill, but quickly turned into the steepest bit of hiking I've done. It was only about a mile of really steep, but it definitely exhausted me. Thank goodness it was only a 12 mile day.
Once I arrived at Sugar Run Gap I followed the signs toward Wood's Hole hostel, just .5 off the trail. By this point I had been out of water for 5 miles and was desperately thirsty. I was greeted by Suds, who was taking a zero here today, and I ran to the fridge to grab and down 2 sodas. Wildly refreshed, I took my shoes off and stayed awhile.
Soon we were joined by Meta, Stonechair, and Tapeworm. They informed me that Stonechair has to leave the trail and tomorrow is his last night. He has to leave because he's out of money, so thank you again to all who've donated. This sad news was greeted with the appropriate response: farewell party tomorrow. Instead of enjoying a zero we're going to hike 10 miles down into town, get a hotel room, and toast Stonechair's departure.. many times.
Mr. Fantastic arrived soon after, as well as Wendigo, Hoppel, 4 thru's I haven't met, and a couple of section hikers. Wood's Hole is full up tonight, and Dick Flap still hasn't stumbled in.
While they weren't making their typical full organic dinner, fresh bread was being baked and they had great cheeses to offer. The best were the fruit smoothies made with Amish ice cream. The whole place is very interesting, with dogs, chickens, goats, pigs, and a beautiful garden. Let's not forget laundry and a hot shower. With these kinds of luxuries and such a beautiful location, it hardly matters how challenging the day was. Hopefully the 10 into town tomorrow will be relaxing, but not before a promised breakfast of cheesy grits and cinnamon buns. If I go to sleep now will morning come sooner?

Another hundred

The sun rose, shining directly into our shelter. This was a great wakeup after a good nights sleep. After a bountiful breakfast, Mr. Fantastic and I set out to complete our 10 mile hike to the next shelter for lunch.
Even though the terrain was making it easy for us, we were both feeling quite tired and beat up. The lack of any water source for those 10 miles certainly didn't help. Thankfully there was a spring near the shelter, so we decided to take a long lunch break today. This of course included a brief midday nap. Considering that this was the first time we succeeded in doing our 10 miles by 12pm, I think we earned it.
I set my feet back onto the trail at around 2pm. With 8.5 miles remaining to our campsite I expected to arrive before 6pm, but was planning to take it slow. Also, after only hiking 1 more mile I reached the 600 mile point of our trip. This 100 miles went so much faster than our first 100 miles that it's funny.
Despite my morning lethargy, I quickly found myself making great time. The real reason for my second wind was my music pumping through the new 4 dollar headphones I picked up to replace my ailing expensive ones. Electronics aren't made to survive this kind of treatment.
With this proper motivator I breezed into camp at 5:30pm, crossing a gorgeous suspension bridge on the way. The site is amazing, hidden off a small side trail, under a canopy of green, next to a burbling river. I quickly set up my tent, hung a bear bag line, and soaked my steaming feet while beginning a long dinner.
I started to think that Mr. Fantastic had passed me, despite my trekking poles pointing the way, until he pulled in 2 hours later. He had found some good phone signal up on one of the mountains and took advantage of that. I apparently missed it.
We sat and ate, talked nonsense, and enjoyed the river dividing tonight's backyard. It's a great place to camp, and leading into a great couple of days. Just 12 miles tomorrow will take us to the hostel. It's a short distance day on easy terrain that ends with good food and comfort. Doesn't get much better than that, but when you've got a zero planned for the next day you really start to see the possibilities for recuperation. A much needed thought after so many days of single-minded hiking.

A little taste of Bland

Between a very confused bird crowing all night, and a thrumming headache, I got very little sleep. The siren call of Subway still got me on the trail by 8am, but I was quite tired and achey.
Mr. Fantastic and I dominated once we got going though. We hiked past the people who had started out before we had gotten up, and continued on, not willing to break for lunch until we saw the neon lights of Subway.
When we finished our 11.8 mile hike to the highway, we were treated to the best hitch hiking experience we've had thus far. We walked off the trail, toward the road, and as a car was passing Mr. Fantastic threw up a quick thumb. The white Mustang convertible came to a screeching halt across a gravel driveway right next to us. It happened so fast that we questioned if he was stopping to pick us up, to park, or to kill us. He was a nice guy who had thru-hiked 15 years ago and had moved to Bland from Manhattan immediately after. He drove us directly to the Subway, and even went in himself to get some grub.
We moved into a table by the window and set up camp. Gear was strewn about, electronics were plugged in, and food was piled high. We spent entirely too much, and just enough time there. I ate a foot long cheesesteak with 2 Mr. Pibbs and 2 cookies, a personal pepperoni pizza, and chocolate milkshake. Eat fresh indeed. All this while enjoying their free wifi, and small talk with some curious locals. Speaking of wifi, I finally got to check my Paypal, and want to thank Val, Bill, Walter, Lia, Amy, and Monica. Your generous donations go a long way toward protecting the endangered Appalachian Wyatt, a rare and majestic creature on the verge of extinction. To the best of my knowledge there is only one left out here.
After eating far too much, and sitting comatose far too long, we finally made way for the Dollar General across the street. A quick 2 day resupply later, we were outside sorting through our rations. At this point we had what then became our best hitch hiking experience yet, beating out this mornings .5 second record. As Mr. Fantastic went to the trash bin to dispose of his excess packaging (no point in carrying extra weight in and out) a Bland local asked him, point blank, if we needed a ride anywhere. This was so far out of the ordinary on its own, but made even more unusual by the fact that it was a lone woman with her son. We scrambled to get our gear together and leapt into the back of her pick-up, where we rode back to the exact spot we had been picked up hours earlier.
With dairy swelling our bellies, the remaining 2.5 miles of steep hiking was made rather arduous. Having made it, we rejoined Palm Tree and some other hikers we've seen the last few days. Everyone seems to be just as tired as we are today, it seems that sleep didn't come easy for anyone last night.
It's only a 2 day hike to our planned hostel break. I've reached a point where my aroma is even starting to bother me, so laundry and a shower sound like the greatest day ever. It's an early evening for everyone here, unlike last nights dinner in the dark, and that suits me just fine. Here's to a good nights sleep before another long day.

High Mileage

It was hard to get up and going today. As the sun peeked through the trees I willed it to go away and turtled my head into my mummy bag. That only worked for so long.
I had a nice pop tart breakfast (2 packages = around 900 calories) and stepped back onto the trail at 9am. Mr. Fantastic was just getting his breakfast together, so I didn't expect to see him until either lunch or dinner. To my surprise I quickly passed everyone who had set out before me, and slowly made my way up the mountain in our path.
There was a solid shelter with a door (tres fancy) at the top of the mountain, and at 9 miles I was more than ready to break for lunch. Suds greeted me when I arrived, about to continue on his hike. It was good to finally meet him, as we had heard each others names many times.
Bumblebee joined me as I was tidying up, and I decided it was a good day for a nap. A half hour later, when I exited the shelter, I found that my socks had dried in the sun and my muscles had relaxed in my sleep. Just 10 miles left before Jenkins shelter.
The rest of the hike looked easy on the map, but 10 miles is 10 miles. Palm Tree, a guy from Hawaii who had been camping at the same shelters lately, caught up with me and we passed the time talking books. He's a big science fiction fan, and we found plenty of common ground, mostly centering around Douglas Adams.
After my late start and mid-day nap I knew I'd be finishing late today, but my weary body didn't want to help me move along any faster. We finally arrived at 7:30pm, and have rarely been so happy to be done for the day.
No one else from our shelter last night has arrived yet, though there are a few section hikers tented around the grounds. I'm all set for the night, except for the mac and cheese I plan to eat before bed. That I'm saving until the rest of our current group arrives.
Tomorrow I plan to get up early and hike the 12 miles to town. Real lunch is always a great motivator. After resupplying, eating, and charging, we only have another 2 miles to hike to the following shelter. After all of these high mileage days it'll be very nice to just have a 14 miler. It's funny to think that way since it was only a week ago that 14 miles was considered an average day for us.