Bugs, rain, and a hot shower

The bugs and heat woke me up early this morning, but I got a decent nights sleep at least. We had a rough climb ahead of us, so we ate big breakfasts, stretched, and started another days journey.
It was still hot, and 10 minutes in I had sweat pouring down my face. Again with no wind, the sweat does me no good. Once we got two thirds of the way up we were treated with a great view of the river below, a gentle breeze, and decent 3G signal. This was of course the place to take a break, even if we had only been moving for an hour. As we continued through the rest of the climb we kept checking signal strength and thinking of other things to do online. Anything to slow the hike down and entertain ourselves. Once I saw that the forecast called for thunderstorms at 5pm though, I got my ass in gear. Mr. Fantastic was chatting, so I gave him my leave and started walking my fastest pace toward the shelter.
Thanks to being up on the ridge line the wind had picked up, and that's all I needed to find my strength. I walked/jogged along a wonderfully smooth section of trail, headphones in and mood high. Another climb up, and steep decent lead me to the shelter.
It was 1pm when I started eating, only to be accosted by more of the vicious biting gnats. By the time I had eaten just one tortilla roll, my feet were covered in bloody smears and I was sitting in a haze of bugs. Mr. Fantastic caught up with me, and smartly left his socks on so they couldn't destroy his feet.
While eating we hatched a plan to turn our 18 mile day into a 20 miler, and hitch into town. Between the brutality of the bugs and the impending storm we were desperate for a 4th wall. We talked in length about bug genocide, and the pros/cons of enacting such a plan.
I gingerly slid my soggy shoes back on once Mr. F finished his lunch, and we took off for greener pastures. We started out moving a little slowly, as Mr. Fantastic's boot tread had worn off just like mine. Every rock was causing him pain, and he realized he had a purchase to make, or this terrible trend would continue. After a while I took the lead though, because our timing was going to make getting into town a challenge. It's easier to keep a fast pace when your shoes protect your feet. We wanted to avoid the rain, and spent a portion of our journey just shy of running. It was rough on Mr. F, but I fared better thanks to the thick bouncy tread on my new shoes.
When we were about 4 miles out from the road we started hearing skull-cracking thunder echoing in the distance. It wasn't just occasional thunder either, it was pretty much a constant bombardment of electricity, and that's when we really started moving. We walked while listening to this and seeing the sky slowly get darker and darker for 2 miles. After a while it felt like it would never start raining, and it was so dark that it truly seemed like we were under water, hearing the sounds of a mighty war booming above us. But finally, as it always does, the sky opened up. We got our packs covered quickly, and hiked those last 2 miles through sheets of rain running into rivers down the trail. Shoes were quickly soaked through, but our spirits were still high, as we knew that town beckoned.
The rain let up shortly before we made it to the road, but it had cooled our day off so much that I found myself shivering in my rain jacket. Once at the road, looking like wet rats, we desperately tried to get a ride and were continually turned down. Eventually, after our spirits were finally beginning to falter, a kind gentleman stopped to pick us up. He told stories about the town, and how his morning 5 mile walks helped him beat cancer. He was a great guy, and even offered us a ride back to the trail in the morning if timing worked out.
We were dropped off at the Budget Inn, given the dirt cheap hiker rate, and made haste to each take a shower. Subway and Dominos were each in our near future, and having soft beds to sit on made the brutality of the day worthwhile.
The next few days forecast sun and cooler weather, but still plenty of sweating over mountains I'm sure. Laundry and resupply will take place tomorrow, and hopefully new boots for Mr. F.
I think I've said enough to feel like I'm being a good blogger, which is good, as this bed is quickly lulling me to sleep. I can't say lull without thinking of Mitch Hedberg, it really does have to many L's.

Sweatin' to the Oldies

While everyone else was getting bitten by bugs this morning, I enjoyed my breakfast from the sanctuary of my tent. It was very smile-inducing. Mr. Fantastic left before me today, ushered to the trail by little pinching bug bites. My feet hit the dirt about 40 minutes later, and I enjoyed the near forgotten sensation of hiking after a good nights sleep.
I put on some music and attempted to make good time, vaulting over dips in the trail with my trekking poles and carving out tight corners down the steep descent. It was a fun morning, and after a few decent views I caught up with Mr. Fantastic.
Once we made it to a campsite with water we stopped to refill, and met up with Eva and Short Term. We had met Eva at trail days briefly, so that was a fun reunion. We had a brief lunch there before continuing on toward our resupply.
Even with all downhills, it was oppressively hot out. A lot of the trail had no cover from the sun, looking and feeling a bit like traversing a scorched desert. We kept moving down a nonstop, leg-breaking descent until we stumbled onto the shelter. Even though it was only another 2 miles to the road we decided to take a break and rest our feet.
Eva and Short Term caught up with us, along with Brownie who was at the same shelter last night. We all enjoyed a moments respite, and then moved on up the trail.
We crossed a river before hitting the highway, walking across the longest foot bridge on the trail, and asked a lady at the parking lot which was the best direction for food. She gave us a little info, and then offered a ride into town.
Glasgow was a pretty sad place for a ravenous hiker, having no place to get some hot food. They did however have a Dollar General, and we stocked up accordingly. I bought too much food for the coming stint of hiking, and my back was feeling it immediately, but too much is better than not enough.
The hitch back didn't go nearly as easily, but it was story-worthy. As cars zoomed past us, ignoring our plight, we were getting a little delirious in the heat. At one point a van drove by, and gave us a dejected look that said to me, "I would if I could, but don't have the space". After a couple of minutes he came back though, offering to squeeze us into the back of his van with his cleaning supplies. We were ecstatic!
It was a fun ride, bouncing this way and that around the insanely curving highway, and we all chatted about trail life. When the driver found out that we were from Jersey and DC he was shocked, saying "No way! I thought all you guys from Jersey and DC could do was work on laptops and talk on phones!". This of course cracked us up, and as he dropped us off back at the bridge he wandered off to look at some girls in bikinis swimming in the river. It was quite the entertaining ride.
A quick 2 mile hike brought us to the next shelter, where we bumped into Eva and Short Term again. We enjoyed quite the riotous conversation before they left to do a 20 mile night hike. Quite impressive.
Laziness is stopping me from pitching my tent tonight, which I'm sure to regret, but getting in close to sunset has that effect on me. Who wants to work in the dark after all.
Tomorrow is going to start with a pretty strenuous climb, which is my least favorite way to start the day. It's also supposed to rain, but anything to cool this heat off will make me happy. For now I'll just focus on making it to Buena Vista and getting the hot meal I was denied in Glasgow. Everything else is trivial.

Heat wave

Another sleepless night. This time it was because of the heat. In just shorts and out of my sleeping bag I was still dripping sweat all night. I sweat so much throughout the night that I actually woke up dehydrated. After all my caution the day before, I was unprepared for a situation like that.
The shelter we were at had no water source, so headache in tow, I started down toward a swimming hole at the bottom of the mountain. The great thing about hiking is the endorphins, so I felt better by the time I reached the bottom and could start chugging water.
Unfortunately today was the hottest day so far, and we had a massive day-long ascent ahead of us. So, with nowhere else to go, and nothing else to do, Mr. Fantastic and I sweat our way up to the first shelter. There was water close by, beautiful cooling shade, and the best shelter we've seen on the trail. It was a two-story beast, with beautiful architecture, an Ian Fleming book ripe for the taking (which I took), and a million bees. Why does there always have to be a downside? We tried to make the best of it, drying our clothes in the oppressive sun and eating as much as we could. The upside to the heat is it's ability to dry clothes, but of course the downside is that we soak them with sweat after 20 minutes on the trail.
After a shorter break than planned, we pushed on. The bees had just become too much, swarming around us and covering our gear. They seem to absolutely love sweat for some reason.
We had 5 solid miles of climbing ahead of us to the next shelter, and they were brutal. On a normal day on the trail I consume around 2.5 to 3 liters of water and that keeps me well hydrated. I ended today drinking 6 liters to finally catch up with what I needed by nightfall. I'm not sure, but I do believe that's the most water I've ever drank in a day.
The next shelter housed a few other hiker friends, sleeping off the afternoon heat. Mr. Fantastic and I ate in silence until they woke up, which felt natural after the beating we were taking. This shelter didn't have many bees, but was swarming with little gnats, and I was again driven forward.
With the little phone signal I found I was able to check the outside world from Black Rock lookout (Lost reference, in case you're wondering why I'm name dropping this location), so I wanted to say thank you for donations again! I heard of another hiker who had to leave the trail back in Daleville, and it always is a sad way to say goodbye. So anyway, thank you to Melanie, and Linda and Bob. Your donations will help us win this vicious war against nature, and push it back to the gates of oblivion from whence it came! Boy do I miss video games.
With only 5 miles left of hiking to do, the temperature was finally abating a touch, and giving me a breeze to make my sweaty nature actually serve a purpose. I passed over the peak of Apple Orchard Mountain and didn't find any apples, just a massive tower of some kind. However, a little bit past this I came across the Guillotine rock formation. I've seen plenty of images online, but it was still pretty nifty to see in person. This was also, thankfully, just before reaching the end of today's hike.
We finally found a shelter with other hikers again, probably about 15 all together. I quickly discovered that I would be enjoying the comforts of my tent for the first time in a long while, because this is yet another home to bugs. While eating my dinner I had bees investigating, flies irritating, and little biting gnats drawing drops of blood all over my feet. Not a place to sleep outside of your tent with exposed skin!
It was a fun, upbeat night with all these people. We all shared stories of our miseries during the day, and laughed at and with each other until the sun went down. It's good to be back in my tent, I definitely missed the nightly seclusion. Tomorrow will be another day of hitching into town, and another day of unbearable heat, but with one key difference: tomorrow we don't climb up a mountain, tomorrow we stroll down a mountain. As for tonight, I will sleep like a baby, but first I must remove a curious frog from from my shoe.

Another 20

I left at 9am on the dot today after a long night of tossing and turning. I didn't stretch enough at the end of the day yesterday and continually woke with tightening muscles.
Everyone walked to the next shelter for breakfast, as the water was of much higher quality. The rainwater runoff from the roof was "filtered" through a pump behind the shelter that we had slept at, and tasted of dead leaves and bird shit. At least that's what I was told, I didn't even try it after seeing its cedar water pigment.
After the delayed breakfast Mr. Fantastic and I continued on, attempting to up our speed today. You can become complacent at a 2mph gait, and we are hoping to up it to 3 by the time we finish this trip. It's good to push your limits because you realize the reserves of energy you've built up and haven't been taking advantage of.
We made it to the following shelter at 3pm, which had us at 13.5 miles. So 6 hours - 1 hour for breaks = 5 hours for 13.5 miles, or 2.7mph. Not bad for a turing test. Of course my exhaustion started to take hold after that aggressive a start to the day, but thankfully it was only another 3 miles to the road into town.
We started hitching at 5pm, after passing our first naked hiker. We hear that Thursday is naked hiking day, but he apparently has to work then, so came out early to strut his stuff. It was as funny as it was disturbing. It didn't take long to get into Buchanan, where we ate at a diner/pharmacy. Yes, it was odd, but the food was delicious. A $2.95 milkshake, which was really 3 milkshakes when all was said and done, made the meal.
A very short resupply at the local gas station/Burger King (yes, they like to combine things in Buchanan) and we were back on the hitching road. The way back was challenging, as no one was driving the winding country road at 7pm on a Tuesday. Finally after 45 minutes we got a lift from a generous couple who had heard Mr. Fantastic asking about alternate routes at the gas station.
Arriving back at the trail at 8pm with 3.5 miles to go meant the possible beginnings of a night hike, but since we had already eaten our fill it was less of a concern. The hike wound up being quite breathtaking after a short rocky climb. The trail was soft on the feet, flat and easy on the muscles, while facing a glorious sunset through wide open ridges.
We were afraid the shelter would be full, but it was actually quite empty, and we were grateful. It's a hot night, and I don't think I can goad myself into getting in my mummy bag. I'm hoping not to wake from a wolf spider crawling through my hair as I did last night. It was apparently 95 degrees today, and while I literally dripped sweat on each ascent, I managed to stay comfortably hydrated. Things are already looking up for summer, and much of my fears are alleviated after a day like today. We're right on track, and just have to keep pushing. Tomorrow is only a 17 mile day, but it's a rough 3000 foot climb up Apple Orchard Mountain. I hope, but somehow doubt, that it'll live up to its name.