Due to lack of service, days 63 and 64 will come out today

It was already hot when I woke up. So instead of dawdling, I started to get ready and pack up. My morning chores (mostly just packing up camp, making breakfast and hoping to all hope that I didn’t leave anything behind) were rushed through and I was soon ready to go. Rocket was still asleep in his tent so I just waved at the solid wall and headed out. 

Since I had come up with my plan yesterday to see if I could make it to the official halfway point, I had been planning and replanning the next few days so that I’d have a shot of making it there in one piece. There were 131 miles to go as I woke up this morning. And I decided to bite off the first 31 today. 

The temperature, which had started out high, kept climbing all day. By mid day it was 90 degrees out and I was drenched in sweat. With all the climbing and the heat, I found myself soaking wet and wondering how I was going to make it to the end of the day. I filled up at every water source, downed packet after packet of electrolytes, and still found myself constantly dehydrated. Fighting a losing battle against the sweat. 

I had lunch at a spring with Boardwalk. But we both just stared into the distance and kept asking each other why it was so hot. And why we were doing this. We were both beet red and dripping wet. 

I then walked for a while with a German man named Navigator. He looked like he was in his mid fifties so naturally I had to make sure that I could keep up with him. Because even though he was objectively fast, it would’ve been embarrassing to lose to an old man like that. But while we walked, he told me about his adventures in Gates of the Artic national park. He told me of talking down angry grizzlies and of a bush pilot who played by his own rules when it came to setting delivery times and dates for food drops. 

With 4 miles to go til camp, I hit the Virginia Roller Coaster. So named because it’s so much up and down that on a map it looks like a roller coaster. But god forbid we got any views out of it, the whole roller coaster is wooded with nothing to see. In other words, it is the highest concentration of PUDS (pointless ups and downs) of the whole trail. 

By the time I made the last climb, the light was falling and my energy was zapped. I could barely move my legs but when I saw the sign, suddenly I had all the energy. “1000 miles to springer mountain GA” it read. I stared at it. I had walked 1000 miles to get to this point. I had walked 500 miles and then 500 more. 

Boardwalk caught up to me and we both stared for a minute before taking each others photos and finding the first campsite we could. It was pitch black as I set up my hammock over the brook. Hopefully the sounds of water will soothe me to a deep sleep 

Key stats:

Miles: 31

Elevation gained: 6,200 ft

Mile marker: 1,000

What I did once I could walk 500 miles: walked 500 more