Day 30

Dinner!

Starting mile 344.6

Today I woke up a little groggy, I had a little too much fun last night. I slowly got out of my hammock and made my way to the bathroom. Then I grabbed the extra Gatorade that I had smartly purchased the other day. By the time I drank that and got some breakfast in me I was feeling better. I chatted with some of the others to see what they were going to be doing and I decided to catch the 8:30 am shuttle around the detour.

I hurried up to pack up, making sure to double check that I had everything I needed. Then I jumped on the shuttle. When we got dropped off at the trailhead, I started off easy. I walked with “Crash” for a little while and talked about the recent Virginia election. He is from Reston. I’ve met a lot of people from Northern Virginia on this trip. “Crash” is a slow hiker, so I left him after about 20 minutes and started with my normal pace.

I didn’t really have a plan for the day. I figured I would take my time and just hike until I find a nice place to camp around 6 pm. That should get me around 14 miles for the day. In the morning the trail started out nice and flat, so I was able to start off strong, which was nice after the rough night I had.

After a couple of miles, the uphill started. It varied from a decent grade up hill to some steep sections. Overall, it wasn’t so bad. I eventually made it to the shelter around 11 am. I had done about four miles in two hours. Not great but not too bad with the elevation gain. I ate some lunch and took off. A few people were planning on staying at that shelter tonight, but it was way too early for me.

I continued up the mountain with a gradual climb before it flattened out along the ridge. I had a ridge walk for a while. This wouldn’t have been so bad, but the trail was rocky. After about an hour I had to stop and filter some water. I had about a seven mile stretch without any water. I downed the three quarter of a liter that I had and topped off all my water.

I continued up the trail. My next big destination was the Beauty Spot. It was about five miles ahead. It was getting hot out with the sun beating down on me. I’m looking forward to the Green Tunnel getting here so I can do most of my hiking in the shade. It is hot up here with all the sun exposure. I keep moving forward, but I’m a little slow today. 

I finally got to the Beauty Spot and found “Lobo” sitting on the ground with a couple of old guys drinking a beer. I threw my pack down next to them and they handed a beer. These are a couple of locals who come up here a couple times during the bubble with beer and cookies for the thru hikers. I had a great time talking with these guys. They have a lot of knowledge on the area. After a few minutes we saw “Jetpack” coming up the trail. I had been waiting for him to catch me. He is a very fast hiker.

While we were sitting there enjoying our beers, we decided to make it to the top of the next mountain and set up camp there. So, we took off and started our 1,000-foot climb to our camp site. We made it there just before 6 pm, the time I was planning on stopping. We set up camp and made some dinner. After chatting for about an hour we all retired to our beds for the night. 

Tomorrow we are going to try to get to Roan Mountain about 21 miles down the trail. Today I did 13.4 miles with about 4,300 feet of elevation gain. Not bad for coming out of town.

Ending mile 357.9