Miles today: 17.4
Total miles: 576.6
The boys wanted to do 23 miles today and right off the bat I was hesitant–I haven’t even done a 20 yet and didn’t want to push it with my knee. The miles flew by though as the day went on and I was feeling pretty good. I did completely wipe out flat on my face for the first time. I tripped over a small root or something and down I went. It was painful but luckily my only injury was a scrape on my pinky.
I was only 15 min or so behind the boys all day but my knees started getting sore by mile 15 or so. I was still debating if I’d stop at the shelter at mile 17 or push on for the one at mile 23 when I got cell service and got a text from my friend Emily. We’ve been planning on meeting up and she said she could do Sunday so this meant I could take my time into town to time meeting her there by Sunday morning. The perfect excuse not to do 23! I think I definitely could have done it if I’d tried–I had plenty of time to get there, as I got to the shelter at mile 17 before 4. Oh well. Stopping early meant splitting from the boys but I figured that is probably inevitable because they both always want to do way bigger miles than I do. Plus it’s good to have a bit of independence on the trail.
I had lots of time to kill once at the shelter. There were two girls, Sarah and Lindsey, at the shelter. They are my age or so and friends from UVM hiking the long trail together. This was night three or them–they’ve been doing really short days. They were entertaining and actually reminded me of myself at the beginning of my hike. They were still getting the hang of everything-they burned their dinner, were going to hang their food bag in a tree rather than in the shelter, etc. Seeing them made me realize how far I’ve come since starting the AT and how comfortable and routine my time in the woods is now. Props to the girls though for sticking with it and being determined to keep going.
Another LT hiker, an older guy named Lynn hiked in later. And then as it was getting dark my reading in my sleeping bag was interrupted by a familiar voice. Who walks into camp but Delta! A southbound friend who started the AT the same day as me and who I haven’t seen since Lincoln NH. Having taken two weeks off I figured everyone I know is way ahead of me. But it turns out he took a week off to go home for a wedding. It was great to see a familiar face and such a crazy surprise.