5/14/01
It was a rough day hiking with new boots today. The old left boot had a defective heel cup which had gotten progressively worse. I had used shoe glue to make a repair back in Damascus, but the rubber had tried to move back into its molded form and was cutting my heel for the last 100 miles. Saloman was great with their service when I called from a mountain top last Monday, and a day later a new pair of the Saloman Mach Eights arrived at Jim and Jennie's house for them to bring to Pearisburg. The new boots started rubbing against my heels almost immediately yesterday as I was leaving P-burg, so I stopped to apply some moleskin and athletic tape before blisters had a chance to form. Despite the first aid work my heels have been taking a beating today with the significant climbs. I got a late start this morning after a cold night and cold morning. I had to pump water from a poor water source this morning before starting out and it was 9:20 before I walked the first step. With a goal of big mileage to catch up with Hip I was going to have to push it all day long. The first 10 miles were fairly easy hiking, and I stopped for lunch at the Pine Swamp Branch shelter.
After lunch the trail became very difficult, with a steep rocky climb to Wind Rock. The climb was very painful on my feet and I was disgusted with the two miles of trail after Bailey Gap shelter. It was 4:30 p.m. when I passed the Bailey Gap shelter and I still had 9 miles to go. I kept on pushing and FINALLY arrived at the War Spur shelter at 7:30 p.m. I was exhausted and in pain, but it was nice to see Hip in the shelter after a full day alone on the trail. I don't know where all the thru-hikers are, but Hip and I had the shelter to ourselves. It was a long day but rewarding to wish Hip a happy birthday and have company to spend the night with. The other highlight worth mentioning was that I just missed seeing a bear this morning. There was fresh bear scat on the trail, still steaming, when I walked past, so I knew the bear must have been very close by. Here are today's stats; low 34 degrees, high 68. Sunny to cloudy. Today's mileage; 23.6; cumulative mileage 649.7.
