Make it count: Day #36

Day #36 - AT Hike

Friday, April 17 - Day #36 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 20.1
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 433.4/2,193 (19.76%)

Wise Shelter (504.2) to Trimpi Shelter (524.3) - camp at Trimpi Shelter

Total ascent - 3,345’
Total descent - 4,748’

Total States Completed - 1/14

HUGE day today - my first 20-miler. 20.1 miles with 3,345’ vertical. The weather was picture perfect - warming up to the mid-upper 50’s - no rain. I didn’t necessarily go looking for this 20 - it sort of happened by necessity. There have been constant “Bear Warning” signs everywhere - indicating you should use the bear boxes provided at the shelter locations. They’ve indicated human/bear encounters are frequent and bears are known to tear down any bear hangs. Because my options for shelters when I left this morning were at 5.6 miles, 11.9 miles, and 20.1 miles - I chose the bigger number. Another deciding factor was that there is rain in the forecast overnight tonight - expected to stop late morning tomorrow. Going longer today affords me the opportunity to sleep in a bit if necessary to avoid a big percentage of the rain.

The last couple nights - there has just been 1 person at each shelter. Owl cat and her dog yesterday and Jerry today. I talked with each briefly - but I’ve been getting into camp so late (6pm) - that I just have enough time to put up my tent, eat, and then clean up before it gets dark. I usually like to be in my tent around dark (8-8:15pm) - that gives me a chance to write the blog and try to sleep around 10pm or so. Both Owl Cat and Jerry started much earlier than me in Springer and have been going a bit slower (they both made it through the Smokies). So - I’m starting to come upon people I’ve never met before.

The last couple days have been 10+ hour hiking days (8am - 6pm). That’s about all I want right now - and maybe ever want as far as that goes. I’m just going to need to be faster to get the higher mileage. Right now - I’m around 2 miles/hr. I’m hoping that can bump to 2.5 miles/hr in the flatter states. If I can - 10 hrs of hiking will be 25 miles.

I have about 22 miles until Atkins, VA. This is my next resupply and overnight. I’m hoping for a solid effort tomorrow so I can effectively Nero (near zero) into Atkins on Sunday and have a healthy part of the day for some recovery.

One of the other interesting things today - one of the bridges on the trail was closed down - so we had to do this bypass loop. It was pretty bizarre. The bypass was 2.2 miles long and had us walking 1.5 miles uphill on a paved road. So I said 20.1 miles earlier - but the actual number could be a little higher.

Nothing much more exciting today. Hiking solo daily and generally only seeing people at the shelters at night. I’m hoping to catch some of the folks in front of me that I know. Maybe I can try to stay with them a bit.

Goodnight from the middle of nowhere Virginia!