START LOCATION: VA634/Pearisburg, VA
FINISH LOCATION: Pine Swamp Branch Shelter
TODAY'S MILEAGE: 19.8
TRIP MILEAGE: 645.7
MILES TO GO: 1,533.4
Not much sleep in the tent at the hostel last night. I was up late
getting my food ready and catching up on some email and west coast
phone calls. All great stuff, but just made for a late night. I awoke
at 5:30, was still tired but couldn't get back to sleep. I checked the
weather... Record highs forecasted. Tired, record heat and big
miles... This might be a long day.
I took forever packing up. Some older sectioners, really nice folks,
offered me a ride down to the trailhead about 2.5 miles away. They
were leaving by 8:00AM. I had so much packing to do, and another
business phone call to make at 8:30, so I declined. I hoped to be
headed to the trailhead by 9AM.
At 9:40, I headed to the trailhead. The 2.5 mi walk would be close to
an hour. I'd be starting my 20 mi hike at 10:45. This blog post is
quickly starting to turn into a wah wah woe is me... Call me a
wahmbulance. But the day tuned out pretty good. Yeah, I was tired and
I definitely had trouble keeping my feet up... I set a record for
stunned toes today I'm sure. But it was not as hot as expected. The
terrain besides a big early climb, was very smooth and flat. I was all
over the water sources today. And, I pulled into camp at about 7PM,
which left me two hours of light.
I'm really glad I didn't let all the little things hold me back from
pulling off these miles today. There's tough terrain and beautiful
scenery coming up, according to my guidebook. So, the big miles today
allowed me to ease up for the terrain and also spend the time taking
it all in.
I don't think I mentioned this yet, but for the last couple weeks I've
had this question rolling around in my head... When and where will I
be the first time an April 1st start thru-hiker passes me? There's
lots of ultralight athletic folks who pull off thru hikes in 3 months.
Actually, the world record is in the neighborhood of 40 something days
(Wikiphytes help me out here). But, anyway, I met a guy yesterday that
started on March 30. He went by Russell and was from East Bridgewater.
He has taken no zero days and carries lots of food. He's an avid hiker
and has been to nearly every national park in the US. He's flying. He
doesn't answer my question however. He started in March. But, it shows
me what I can expect... I'll probably be passed by the first April
starter in the next couple days. Its wild to think about that tough of
a pace. Pretty cool though.
I have a steep 1,500' climb tomorrow over 1.5 miles. But I timed it
well... Early part of the day. I have a flat 3 mile warmup to get my
legs loose beforehand. Morning is my preferred time of day to tackle
such things.
-natedog
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