Otherwise, I’m Great

Okay. Today is Monday, July 1, and I’m set up at a tent site at mile marker 1,197.1. It's an unnamed campsite in Pennsylvania near Route 501, for any of you who might want to look it up on a map. But 1,197.1 is significant because the entire AT is 2197.4 miles long, so in 0.3 miles, which I’ll cover tomorrow, I’ll have exactly a thousand miles to go. And that means that in 0.4 miles, I’ll have less than a thousand and be in the three-digit zone. So I’ll be dropping a digit tomorrow, which is great.

I woke up this morning at the Raush Creek tent site. I was the only one tenting there, which was interesting. And for the first time in a while, it had been cool overnight — a very stark contrast to the hot nights I’d spent in my tent over the previous few days. I was very happy about that, and the best part was that the heat broke without a big storm coming through, which is usually how that happens. Instead, we just got a lot of wind, and that was fine. Two thumbs up for that.

I got up and was on the trail by 6:50, which was great, because I had a long day ahead of me. And unlike yesterday, which was just a walk in the woods with virtually no distinguishable features along the way, today had a lot of different geographical features. So, coupled with the nicer weather, that made for a much better day of hiking.

First, I came to a swampy mess, and the trail went right through it. It turns out that beavers had built a dam in the area, so that portion of the trail was literally underwater. I was not anxious to get my feet wet, because I’d already spent the previous two days with wet feet — and apologies, this is a gross reason — because they were so sweaty. I’d had a chance yesterday to finally get a lot of my stuff dry, and I’d started out this morning with dry feet, and I really intended to keep them that way.

So I spent quite a long time getting from log to log and rock to rock and finding little patches of grass that weren't underwater. I kept telling myself, You're not in a hurry. You're not in a hurry. Normally, I would have just tried to find the quickest path across, regardless of whether or not I’d get my feet wet, so I'm quite pleased that I took my time. I eventually navigated my way to other side and managed to keep my feet dry.

After that, there was a pretty big incline, and at the top, it was really overgrown. I would have liked to have been carrying a couple of machetes rather than hiking poles. I'm just glad that I didn't come out the other side totally coated in ticks.

Next was a little downhill, and I stopped for a minute to check the Far Out app to see what the next water source along the trail was going to be. I didn't actually need water, but it's always good to be aware of where the water spots are, just in case. And Far Out said there was a stream ahead, but when I got to it, it was bone dry. It's definitely dry in these parts right now. I was glad I still had water, because if I’d been counting on that source, I would have been very disappointed.

About 5 miles in, I crossed under Highway 81, and I think that was the last point at which the AT crosses 81. The first time was in Marion, Virginia, and the trail just sort of brushed against 81 several times over the next 600 miles or so.

After I crossed under the highway, I went up a steep incline that brought me up to a nice ridge. It was still pretty rocky, which was kind of to be expected, given the Rocksylvania nickname. But it was the first time I’d had some good views in quite a while, and it was a gorgeous day, so I appreciated that and kind of prepared myself mentally to have to navigate a lot of rocks for the rest of the afternoon.

I stopped at one point and noticed that I’d managed to do 10 miles by noon! So that was a nice surprise. But my feet were already hurting pretty bad, and I’d gotten a few blisters that I wanted to tape up before they got worse. One toe actually had a double blister. I also had blisters on both heels, my hips were aching, and every now and again, my right knee would twinge. Other than that, I was doing great!

Then, unexpectedly, I came to a very nice, fairly flat stretch of trail that kind of struck me as being very conducive to fast hiking, so I decided to put on the afterburners to see how much ground I could cover in how little time. I was just marching along at quite a good pace. I felt like I was practically jogging. The “Chariots of Fire” theme song was playing in my mind, and I was imagining myself in that famous beach scene, wearing my backpack and just passing everyone. It felt great.

And then I decided to see what kind of progress I was making. I’d hiked 5 miles in just under two hours. For me, that's like breaking the sound barrier, but that wasn’t even 3 miles per hour! What’s interesting is that a lot of hikers claim that their hiking pace is about 3 miles per hour. So here I am, thinking I'm Mr. Chariots of Fire, sprinting down the beach and everything, and I can't even get to 3 miles an hour.

I mean, at this point, I’ve just sort of accepted that I'm not a fast hiker, but it made me even more impressed with the hikers who can maintain 3 miles per hour for any stretch of the trail. I couldn't even do it over what might have been the easiest section I’ve seen so far. And I ended up paying the price for it, because at the end of those 5 miles, my hips were really hurting. So I won't be doing that again.

I bumped into Terminator as I was hiking into the camping area. I think I’ve mentioned him before. Really, really nice guy from Austria. He was planning on staying at the 501 Shelter, which is a rather nice shelter, right on the highway. I elected not to stay there, though, because (A) there's no water, and (B) I was concerned it would be a little bit too stuffy in there.

I’d read that the tent site I was going to was supposed to be pretty nice, and that turned out to be the case. It has a lot of flat areas, which is good, but they’re all covered in rocks, so I had to spend a little time removing rocks so I could set up my tent. And as I was doing that, Gentle Yeti showed up. I hadn't seen him for a few days. He set up his tent near mine, which was cool. So, maybe not the most exciting day, but a little more going on than yesterday. Looking forward to being sub-one-thousand tomorrow.