Day 59 – Nothing Happened

I woke from a deep slumber around 7:30 to Rabbit on the phone, talking from his hammock. Despite the short amount of sleep, I felt fairly rested. I slept without ear plugs, probably an over abundance of caution from our bear encounter that night. The shelter was located on top of a windy bald so I likely had nothing to worry about.

We got ready at a glacial pace and took our time eating breakfast. Sip and I had a ten-minute debate on if we should wear pants today; we did. We were finally packed up for the day and departing at 10:30. There was still some mild rain that morning which also contributed to the delay.

We were treated with a long but pleasant ridge line walk for the first ten miles of the day. I had cellular service along the way and I got a long phone call in with my Dad. Along the way we saw newts and a friendly (and lazy) frog. The grass had dampened our shoes and socks to the point where my feet were dirty prunes when we stopped at Pine Swamp Branch Shelter. I took my trail runners off and put on Chacos. I ate some ramen noodles and ham while letting my feet dry out.

The rest of the day I switched to Chacos and also had a cold soak in the creek (more to clean my feet than anything else). We reached our final destination for the day Bailey Gap Shelter after 16 miles. Dinner was a Met-Rx bar dipped in cake frosting. Staying in our shelter, I met a father daughter duo called “Bacon and Eggs” that I’ve been seeing in logbooks. Sleep is coming quickly before 10 for once.

Tomorrow looks like 21-mile day if we can manage to get up early enough. As of today we’ve completed 30% of the Appalachian Trail.

Stay tuned for day 60 on the AT.

Uncle Steve

I constantly think about your line out here “what doesn’t kill me, only weakens me and makes me easier to kill the next time.” If that were true I’d be dead 20x over already. Thanks for always being the comedic relief in the family. I miss you guys and hope to see you soon.