Make it count: Day # 28

Thursday, April 9 - Day #28 - AT Hike

Miles Hiked Today - 18.1
Total Miles Hiked on AT - 322.8/2,193 (14.72%)

Roan Mtn - Mountain Harbour B&B (395.6) to Moreland Gap Shelter (413.7)

Total ascent - 4,174’
Total descent - 3,219’

Total States Completed - 1/14

Incredible bounce-back day today!! 18.1 miles, 4,174’ vertical ascent, and over 9 hrs of hiking. I love me some bounce-back! Life is challenging - I have a bunch of bad days - all the time. But - it’s so important to me to get up that next day, shake it off, and start making good things happen again.

Did you ever watch the movie - Apollo 13 (with Tom Hanks). Remember when they were interviewing him about how he had lost all the lights in his cockpit - then some phosphorescent algae appeared in the sea below that led him home. “So uh, you, uh, never know...what...what events are to transpire to get you home”.

I was thinking about this movie today. Last night, it stormed all night long - thunder/lightning and hard rain. I woke up a few times in my warm bed at the Mountain Harbour Bed & Breakfast - saying: “Thank you God, Thank you God - that I’m not out in the woods in my tent”. Over and over I would be so thankful for not having to endure yet another very cold, rainy night in my tent. When I woke up - I was privileged to have the very best breakfast I’ve had the entire trip (by far). I was able to talk with the owners of the B&B and my fellow hikers. When I went out to start hiking around 9am - it looked like rain (it was supposed to rain until noon today). However - it just remained overcast until noon (no rain) - and then the sun came out - making it an incredible hiking day (cool, dry, very pristine trail conditions). I went farther today than any day on the trip - and I felt really peaceful while doing it.

The reason I mentioned the Apollo 13 movie is because - it always amazes me how things just sometimes happen (transpire) “to get you home”. Yesterday I was broken - at a very low point on this trip - and last night and today — things just happened to keep me moving forward. I sort of have tears in my eyes when I think about stuff like this. I’m very blessed and very thankful.

Ok - onto some interesting/scary stuff. Last night, Slow Down was telling us about how he got bit by a copperhead last year on the AT in Virginia. He slipped on some rocks and went down. His hand moved this rock - a copperhead was under the rock - and it got him on the hand. He recovered after some swelling - but no major issues. Now to today —— I saw 2 snakes today - both laying in the middle of the trail - about 1/4 mile apart. These are snakes 2 and 3 of the trip. See pictures. I’m not 100% on what they were. The first one was WAY aggressive. I couldn’t get around it because there were steep hills on both sides of the trail. I tried to scare it away with a long branch. It was not having it. It struck at the branch a number of times. I eventually just had to sweep it to the side. The second one moved out of the way pretty fast once I got closer. There are only 4 poisonous snakes in the US (rattlesnakes, copperheads, cottonmouths, coral snakes). Now - there are about 16 different types of rattlesnakes in US - but I loop them together as “rattlesnakes”. The likely contenders on the AT are rattlesnakes and copperheads.

It’s hard for me to identify smaller snakes. The first one certainly appeared to have that triangular-shaped head and more elongated shaped eyes. It didn’t have the coloration of a copperhead and didn’t have a rattle. However, younger rattlesnakes don’t have rattles yet. I don’t know - anybody got a positive ID on these. The second one I felt was non-venomous- more of a circular head. Needless to say - my eyes were glued to the trail the rest of the day.

I only got into camp around 6:30pm. Nobody at the shelter. I didn’t see a soul again all day. The 4 other hikers at the hostal were only going 9 miles today. As I’m writing this blog - someone has come into the shelter late - they arrived around 8:15 pm - nearly dark. It’s so cold and windy that I’m not even going out there. It’s supposed to get in the mid 20’s tonight (no rain though).

Going to shut it down for now. Thanks for listening to me!