Wow, so much to write about over the past few days...
On Sunday I hiked a crazy long day over Roand Mountain (which is more than 6,000 ft) and planned to finish at Overmountain Shelter having done a total of 22 miles. However I was so tired towards the end of the day that I walked straight past the turning for the shelter. By then the rain was coming downand the wind really blowing. I walked about 2 miles past the turn before realising my mistake - fortunately I quickly managed to find a water source and some flat ground to pitch my tent and the rain let up so that I got everything erected dry. Getting into dry clothes (after dinnes) and then into my sleeping bag was bliss - the rain hammered on my tent all night, but I slept like a baby.
Next morning I had another dry spell to strike camp and had some excellent views (that reminded me of hiking in Yorkshire and the Peaks). I rolled into Mountaineer shelter at 3pm having done 16 miles just before a huge rainstorm - seems the weather Gods were smiling on me - I'd also been lucky enough to have sunshie at Jones Falls (the highest falls on the trail) earlier in the day. Mountaineer shelter is excellent - it has three tiersso that some people sleep in small loft area. The two people up there - Hammock + Rapunzel entertained us with music (Hammock on the ukelele and Rapunzel singing). We settled in for sleep but were awoken around midnight by Squeegie, one of the girls staying that night, having awhat sounded like a terrifying nightmare. In the pitch dark of the shelter, she suddenly shouted (in a very scared voice) 'Hello?!, HELLO?!' I awoke convinced a bear had come into camp. Thankfully some of the other girls staying at the shelter comforted Squeegie back to sleep as she'd been in tears.
On Tuesday morning I planned to hike to Kincora hostel, spend the night and resupply before hitting the trail to Damascus on Wednesday. However, during Tuesday's 15 miles I developed a pain in my left shin which, although not debilitating, warranted some attention. I iced it but awoke on Wednesday morning to find that there was still some pain. I was in two minds as to whether to hike or not, but Longhaul gave me some good advice about there being little to gain and a whole lot to lose from hiking through the pain.
It's worth talking a little about Longhaul while I have time - last night he bought all of the ingredients for the 15+ people staying at the hostel to have a huge dinner of steak, salad, pasta + tomato sauce and garlic bread. He's also one of six people carrying a video cameras as part of documentary that's being made about the trail - he interviewed me yesterday as part of it. He is probably in his 50's and loves the comrarderie of the trail and is super generous - he's also a really nice chap.
Also worth a mention is Bob Peoples, the owner of the Kincora Hostel. He runs the hostel as a hobby (rather thanas a money making exercise) amd only asks for a voluntary donation 0f $4 per night. The hostel really feels like home. Bob also undertakes a huge amount of trail maintenance (in fact him and a group of 10 or so volunteers have just left to do some work today). This includes an annual 'hardcore' day when upwards of 100 volunteers come together to do a large project on the trail. In 2006, 143 volunteers hauled all of the wood and equipment into the woods to build Mountaineer shelter (that I mentioned earlier) in just 1 and a half days - quite an acheivement.
I've also caught up with Peggy and Paul so I might hike into Damascus with them. I've got big plans to make jelly in my plastic water bottle, leave it to set overnight and then eat it for breakfast. Will see how that works out...
For now it's back to the ice pack on the shin - it seems to be doing the job.
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