Solo

“I’m gonna go it alone” -Beck

Starting out today was like day one again. It was strange saying goodbye to Kay and Gentle G, but I’m seeing them again in a week so I convinced myself it was no big deal. But heading into the woods alone I felt a little nervous for the first time in forever. I made it to the shelter we were supposed to stay on Sunday night pretty quickly. Loaded up on water because it was a long dry stretch and it was the eighties today. Crossed the Blue Ridge Parkway a couple times then up and over Cove Mountain. I was definitely hurting, but I’m in new boots with new insoles and just started the new anti-inflammatory yesterday so I’m hopeful about feeling better tomorrow.

Ate lunch and took a longish break at Cove Mountain Shelter. Coming back to the trail I had one of those moments of doubt about which way I’d come. I was 90% sure North was to my right, but I had a twinge of hesitation. This is just one of many situations where it’s nice to have a partner to confer with. I hustled down the trail hoping to hit a landmark quickly, if I was going South I wanted to figure it out sooner rather than later. Turns out I was heading North, crisis averted. Pyro, who I met today and had lunch with there, did go the wrong direction from that shelter so it wasn’t just me.

Put my feet in the swimming hole at Jennings Creek and my ankle felt much better. I should probably be icing it at night but that’s hard to do in the forest. Staying at the biggest shelter I’ve seen tonight: Bryant Ridge (mile 759.5). I was alone in this two story, twenty person spot, which was lonely. It looks like it’ll be seven of us here tonight. Everyone is really nice, but they’re all ten years younger than me. Not a big deal but it’s the first time I’ve felt old out here. To emphasize it they all seem to raise their inflection at the end of every statement. Kind of like they’re asking a question? With every sentence? No matter what they’re saying? Plus they all know each other already. I’m probably just being grouchy. I’m definitely just grouchy.

It was obvious today was going to suck. Slack packing, staying in town, and zeros have made me soft. My ankle hurts and my friend is gone. Wah. Really the bright side is I should probably feel a lot worse than I do. Ok, no more whining. I did 16 today, which actually felt like a short day. I’m trying to take it a little slower and do longer breaks. 17 tomorrow, then it looks like I might be forced to do 19 Friday unless I can find a good spot to stealth camp.

Let’s end this on a good note. Summer is officially here: I heard my first cicada this afternoon and saw lightening bugs tonight.