5.10.12 - A Good Day on the Trail

Hit the trail this morning around 9:00am after the three of us had breakfast. Had a super lazy day yesterday, and even took a nap, but didn't sleep that well last night. Tossed and turned a lot. Glad to be back on the trail!

Passed Leebob and Skunk Ape pretty early on, just before going through another cow pasture. This time wasn't as bad as the last. We did walk past two that were a mere 5-7 feet away, and even though they were pretty big, they stopped only briefly to look at us as we passed, and kept eating. It's somewhat crazy to me that an animal as big as a cow is a herbivore, but times like these, I'm pretty happy about that!

Knocked out miles pretty quickly during the first half of the day. Had lunch at Wilson Creek shelter where we met a 76 year old man who is hiking. That's pretty impressive! We have been hiking along the trail with a lady who is 71 named Mamaw B. She's a hilarious lady, and can move on the trail too!

Hiked on to the next shelter, Bobblet's Gap Shelter where we met Hay Seed, a section hiker. It was great meeting him and chatting with him while we had dinner. We also saw two other hikers there who we had seen a little while ago. One of them mentioned that his buddy who was hiking with them, woke up today and said he was going home. Apparently he'd gotten what he wanted out of the experience and was ready to go home to take care of other things and move on with his life. After eating, we headed out to get a little further down the trail. Due to our Extra time in town, we now have to make sure to get enough miles in per day to make sure we get to Waynesboro by the 18th.

The terrain and weather today were great. Sunny and breezy, and rolling hills that skirted along the Blue Ridge Parkway. I've heard of it before and have heard it is a great drive. As for me, for now, I'll be hiking near and alongside it. If we have to be this close to a road, there might as well be a lot of cars on it, full of people who are just ready and looking forward to feeding hikers! (hey, a boy can dream, right?). Sections of the trail were also lined with beautiful pink rotodendron and mountain laurel.

When all was said and done, we not only had our most productive day heading out of town (which is usually tough), but we may have had our second or third best mileage day on the trail so far too! 23 miles, and we are camped out on Cove Mountain. Not too shabby if I don't say so myself. Feet are a little sore after wearing the new shoes that Merrell replaced for me. Hopefully the break in period is quick and mostly painless.

Flosser should be home now, which makes me kinda bummed, but I'm sure makes his wife Ann very happy. Thanks for letting him come out and play Ann!