Day 52

View of Buchanan Virginia

Starting mile 753.5

Today was going to be a long day. The morning was easy with a long ridge walk and down hill section of trail. I was making great time, then the fun began. My first climb of the day was 1,500 feet. This wasn’t to bad, but I had much more to come. I made it to the top of this climb and made my way to a great shelter for lunch.

This shelter was a multi story one with a great patio. I was able to set my hammock up on the patio so I took a little nap after lunch. My nap ended up being an hour long. I didn’t mean to sleep for that long. I was really going to move this afternoon to get to my camp site tonight.

I had about ten miles left to do for the day and over 4,000 feet of elevation gain. This afternoon was a long up hill slog. The climbing started off with a steep section. Before I knew it I had already climbed 700 feet of the initial 2,500 feet I had to do. The climb continued and I pushed on. I kept passing a section hiker. He would take a break and I would pass him, then I would stop for a minute and he would pass me.

After hiking for a little over two hours I made it to the next shelter. I climb about 2,500 feet over five miles in that two hours. I was really happy with my pace this afternoon. I stopped for a little food and replenished my water for the next section.

My last section for the day was another 1,600 feet of elevation gain over another five miles. This section wasn’t going to be as strenuous, but I was tired after already climbing 4,000 feet. I took a couple of longer breaks but I was able to get to camp just after seven. 

I did 19.8 miles with another 5,600 feet of elevation gain. Not bad since I took an hour and a half lunch.

Ending mile 773.3