Day 28 Tomorrow

Tomorrow we hike. 


Today was our last day off before getting back on trail. Tomorrow we plan to leave the AirBnB at 8. We will drop off resupply boxes at hostels right on trail for Erwin TN and the US19E road crossing. These resupplies will get us all the way to Damascus VA. After dropping the resupply boxes, Tyler’s dad will leave us all the way back at Devils Fork Gap. We will essentially hike 85 miles to get right back to where we are right now. 


Hopefully we haven’t lost much of our trail legs. The rest has definitely been helpful for my ankle and recovering from sickness, but we probably lost some of our endurance as well. 


My stomach still has not fully settled and my appetite has not fully returned. I feel good, definitely good enough to hike, but I hope as we start moving again my digestive system picks back up.


Tomorrow we will start gently with 12 miles. We should have excellent weather. I’m sure as we start making progress again we will be happy to be hiking. 


I think I’ve started taking the rest and down time for granted. So I’m going to do my best to enjoy the comforts of a house for the night.


Goodnight,

Walker 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Epilogue

I am officially an Appalachian Trail thru hiker. We hiked the AT from start to finish. It took 125 days, with 20 days off. Counting my 2020 attempt, I have hiked over 2,830 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Including days off we averaged 17.58 miles a day for 125 days. Not counting days off we averaged over 20 miles a day. It was harder, more beautiful, and more worthwhile than I hoped for or expected. When I think back on the hike as a whole, the generosity of our friends and families is foremost in my mind.   My biggest fears going into the hike were related to health and weather. When asked for prayer topics, these were the primary two items that came to my mind. The largest injury suffered through the entire hike was when Tyler cut his finger after a fall in New York. Otherwise we had all of the minor blisters, sore joints and muscles that you would expect, but we had no major injuries. We were given remarkable weather throughout the hike. Without a hint of exaggeration, I believ...
Read more

Day 125 Summit Day

Image
Today we finished the Appalachian Trail.   A quick note before I get into the update for today. In a separate post I will write out an epilogue where I go over my broader thoughts and experiences of the trail. For today, I will write like I have for all the other days, capturing my memories and sharing my initial thoughts.   I slept well last night between 9PM and 4AM. We woke up early to make the 2 hour drive to Katahdin Stream trailhead. We grabbed left over pancakes from the day before and hopped in the car. The drive to the trailhead went smoothly. We arrived at Baxter and made it to the parking lot with some time to spare. We registered with the park ranger and got our AT Thru Hiker finisher cards.  Spencer and I are 40th and 41st people to finish the AT this year.  Spencer, Brooke, Ashley and I started hiking at around 7:30 with 5 miles to the summit.   The initial ascent was quite easy. With 10 miles out and back to hike we really weren’t in a rush. Ashle...
Read more

Day 118 Fording Rivers

Image
Today we forded 4 rivers and hiked 26 miles in 90 degree heat.   I slept very well last night, pretty much straight through the night. We woke up at 6:30 and started hiking around 8.  We had a couple decent views from the Pleasant Pond ridge before dropping down into the valley.  We spent most of the day just hiking through the woods. Occasionally there would be mud or roots or rocks, but overall it was pretty simple.  Before climbing our only mountain for the day we passed Moxie Pond.  Then we climbed up Moxie Bald Mountain. On the way up the trail went through some really cool rock formations and caves.  The top of Moxie Bald had a couple good views.  After Moxie Bald we spent pretty much the next 18 miles hiking through woods.  The only remaining excitement for the day were the river fords. None of them were dangerous, but we had to walk through the river to get to the trail on the other side. We forded Bald Mountain Stream, Marble Brook, and t...
Read more