2017 Appalachian Hike

What a great day. There really is trail magic. 

The first trail magic was at about 10:45 this morning as I was about to cross a road there was this bag with Sprite, Pop Tarts and Little Debbie Nutty Bars in it. Perfect lunch. I’ve never been a Pop Tart fan but today it tasted good. 

The other trail magic is the shelter I’m staying at. It is located at the Mount Rogers Forest Service office and by a major highway. So I got to charge my phone in their office. That was perfect timing. I thought I was going to be without a phone for a couple of days. 

The other cool thing is that we were able to order pizza delivered to here. So we got town food. I had thin crust pepperoni lovers from Pizza Hut. My favorite. What a great surprise. There is a town six miles from here. 

So I started the day kind of down hiking in the rain and thinking I wasn’t going to have use of my phone. The rain didn’t last very long and then the day ended beautifully with this shelter. 19 miles today. 

Last night I slept awesome. I think maybe the best I’ve slept yet. I got up about 5:00 and was on the trail by 6:15. 

This is sometimes how we cross fences when that AT goes across private property. 

The day was pretty uneventful as far as scenery goes. Comers Falls was pretty neat. 

Tonight at my shelter is Engineer, Panda, Billy Goat, Timber and Georgia Peach. This shelter holds 14 but is pretty empty. It appears that Engineer and I are ahead of the bubble. The biggest crowd is behind us. We are seeing fewer hikers and campers as we go. Of course a lot of people have dropped out too. Only one in four hikers complete the whole thing. They say more than 50% of the drop outs have already dropped. 

I think I’m making fewer friends than most. Engineer and I are faster than most so we don’t get to know as many people. 

My gear of the day is very odd. Deodorant/Antiperspirant. Every thing I read says don’t take it because it’s extra weight and you and everyone else are going to stink anyway. 

I started out without and couldn’t stand the smell of myself. Finally after about three weeks I couldn’t stand it anymore. After the blizzard when I went to Erwin I bought some at Walgreens. Great addition to my pack. It works. I’m not saying I smell great, but I certainly don’t stink like I did before. 

Tomorrow it’s supposed to rain all day. The only good thing about that is that I don’t get hot and sweaty. 

Here’s the rest of the pictures from yesterday that I didn’t upload.