Tombstone for Uncle Nick Grindstaff who was born in 1851 and died in 1920.
Starting mile 438.3
It poured down rain again last night. I was able to stay dry in my hammock but it made getting going in the morning tough. The rain more or less ended about 8:45 so I decided I ought to get moving. I was still hoping to get a little over 22 miles in for the day. I got packed up and hit the trail by 9 am.
The day looked like it was going to be fairly easy. I wasn’t going to have any big climbs, just a lot of little ups and downs. The biggest issue I was going to face was that everything was going to be wet. Within five minutes my feet were already drenched. This was going to make the day hard on the feet. It was also very humid so I was going to have to watch out for some chaffing.
I was making great time in the morning, averaging about 2.5 miles an hour. Before I realized it I was 11 miles in, half way to my goal. I took my lunch break here. My food bag was getting emptied, I’ll probably be walking in to town with no food left. I’ve never done that before. I usually have a full day worth of food left.
After chowing down and drying my feet out I threw on my dry socks and my wet shoes. I’ve got about 11 miles to hike but only another 2,000 feet of elevation gain. Just like this morning, this afternoon should be lots of gentle climbs and descents. I was feeling great until I get to Low Gap at 5 pm. I was feeling tired and didn’t really want to keep moving.
I relaxed at the picnic table for about half an hour before deciding that I could make it a little further. There was water about 2.5 miles ahead. I thought I’d get there then find some place to camp. I got to the water, refilled my bottles and started looking for a place for my hammock. As I walked I couldn’t find an adequate place. Helene knocked down a lot of trees in this area. Instead of a nice mature forest with open ground there was a lot of under growth with little trees and bushes. This has been an issue over the last couple hundred miles.
I kept walking to hopefully find somewhere to set up camp. I looked at my map to see where I was and noticed that I was only like a quarter mile to the shelter; so I continued on. Ten minutes later I made it to Abington Gap Shelter, my goal for the day. I ate dinner and then hunkered down ready for more rain overnight.
All in I reached my goal for the day with 22.5 miles and about 4,200 feet of elevation gain. Tomorrow I’ve got 10 miles into Damascus.
Ending mile 460.8
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