April 19
End: Niday Shelter
Miles: 43.4
Total: 2542.4
After my zero day at the shelter I was going stir crazy and needed to walk for a lot of miles. Daypack got up before five in the morning, and Fancy and Tarzan got up a little later. They were not particularly quiet, so I got up and left before six.
I didn’t need my headlamp for long. It gets light outside at six now, and the sun rises at six thirty. I plowed through the morning and reached the next shelter by ten. I passed a guy at the next shelter matching the description of a crazy person I was advised to avoid.
Following along in the data book, I passed a road or two and continued climbing, seeing a lawn chair someone had placed on a cliff to enjoy the view.
The south-bounders at the shelter the previous night had mentioned that there was a big group ahead, but I never really found them. A couple of hikers mentioned passing a small group, but they might have hitched at one of the road crossing since I never saw them.
Some Virginia Tech students headed back to town gave me a lot of chicken nuggets and bread, along with some sauce. I could not believe my good fortune. Though I had to carry that stuff up one last mountain, I was looking forward to dinner.
My endurance and patience were tested at the top of the mountain. The whole thing was very unfriendly terrain, with gigantic rock slabs slanted, making walking an ankle-bending experience. The ridge was the focus of a mile or two of ridiculous rock slab scrambling before I finally started descending towards my destination for the day.
As darkness approached I hurried onward, and walked towards the headlamps at Niday Shelter. I met some folks out for a week or two, and heated up my Chick-Fil-A. The long day was over and my personal best in miles had been extended. Needless to say, I slept soundly.
