5/16/01
Rain two days in a row? What? I want my money back. For the first time since starting the journey we've had back-to-back days. Hip and I were very slow getting out of the shelter this morning. It's very hard to leave a shelter when you're dry and you know that you 're about to get wet and cold for several hours. Nevertheless, we were on the trail by 9:30 (my latest start from a shelter or a campsite). We faced a steep 1700' climb to start the day and we both struggled. The heels of both my feet are suffering from blisters formed by the new boots and for the third day in a row it was painful to walk every single step. Fortunately the rain stopped mid-morning and we had a short hiking day planned. Our only shelter options were to go 10 miles or 23 miles and I couldn't see the value in attempting a long mileage day after the 18 miles yesterday. Besides, we're on a mission to eat at an all you can eat restaurant in Catawba tomorrow night and we didn't want to hike past the highway beforehand. I am staying hungry now and crave food even after eating a meal. Town stops for food are going to play an important role in a successful hike to Maine. And it's nice for a change to eat as much as you want of whatever you want without worrying about the consequences. Whatever gets consumed gets burned in the daily grind of hiking for 10 to 12 hours.
We arrived at the Pickle Branch shelter at 4 p.m. today, a nice early time for a change. After pumping water and eating dinner, we made a fire just in time for the rain to start again. It's 9:00 p.m. now and it's been raining for 3 hours, but we're toasty and dry in the shelter and have been lucky two days in a row getting into camp before the rain hit. Tomorrow we climb the Dragon's Tooth and pig out on real food. Then Friday it's a long hike into Daleville and a reunion with Creeper back to Damascus for the 15th annual "Trail Days" festival which celebrates thru-hiking of the AT. Here are the stats for today: low 50 degrees, high 63. Rainy, then cloudy, then rainy. Today's mileage: 9.9, cumulative mileage 677.8.
