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.
