5.11.12 - I'll Trade You Trailmix for Your Doritos and Apple

Temp dropped to about 45 or 50 last night, and while I was excited to try out the new sleeping bag, it was a pretty chilly night of sleep! It's hard to time when to change out items that you're basing on the weather. Anyway, threw all my clothes on that I have at about 12:45am, and made it through the night without frostbite. I guess we can call that a win. ;)

Was a chilly morning, but once we were hiking and about 2 miles in to the first shelter, it was warm enough to shed down to shorts and tshirt. Had some serious uphill to do today. Thousands of feet of elevation gain at a time. While it has gotten easier lately, it's still rough, especially after a 23 mile day, and aiming for 20 today. Got to a noted swimming hole and road crossing. There was a bus and a lot of kids down by the water. We continued on and on the other side of the road found a cooler that had a trail magic sign on it. Nice cold Coca Cola inside! A nice refreshing treat on a Friday! Hiked on, more and more uphill. Eventually we came up to a group of more kids hiking. They told us they were a class of sixth graders and this was their second time this school year out on the AT. How cool is that?! Jokingly I asked a few of the boys if they were heading to Maine too. They laughed and one said that he wished. We also came across two teachers who were helping one boy along who had fallen and gashed his knee open pretty bad. They said they'd be taking him to the ER, possibly for stitches.

We got to Shelter that was probably the nicest of all the shelters in my opinion. After a few minutes, we were surrounded by about 25-30 sixth graders, and another teacher who couldn't seem to keep her cool regarding the gashed knee kid, and the other 25 or so who were there. Good example she was setting. Anyway, as we ate our lunches and so did the kids, I told Tarzan I was going to see if any of the kids wanted to trade any food. Nah, I didn't really do it. However, those apples and Doritos looked pretty good.

Hiked on and caught up with Mamaw B and Four Spoke. Got ------- miles out to Thunder Ridge Shelter and called it a day. Huff and Puff were already there, and I met Squidword for the first time. Planning to wake up early and knock out 15 miles to a road where we will need to hitch 6 miles into town to do a food resupply. As long as we get a hitch in and out without too much trouble, it'll be way better than the alternative of carrying 7 days worth of food.

Balls of feet feel pretty good today. I've been using Body Glide, as recommended by a few friends, and this may just be working. If it does, this could be great. Only issue now other than normal soreness, is a crease in my hiking shoe as it is breaking in, that hits my big toe. Trying to fix that.

Hoping for a slightly warmer night!

Oh, and check out the picture of what I call the "127 Hours rock"!