Day #46 - My Achin' Feet

Miles: 16.1 to Lost Mountain Shelter

All of us had very sore feet today. We are trying to figure out why. I've changed nothing, but I want new insoles. Wing It has new shoes and Bluebird has new insoles. We got a late start out of Damascus because we stopped by the post office to mail home some stuff and Bluebird worked on her blog at the computer at Mojoe's. I got a chai tea latte and satisfied my blueberry muffin craving while we waited. We hit the trail around 10:30.

Man, was it hot today! The highs were in the mid-80s and hiking was tough. There were no big climbs or descents, just lots of switchbacks. Parts of the trail paralleled the Creeper Trail. They had better views of the river though and MUCH flatter terrain. Jerks. Just kidding. We took an official AT detour because a bridge had washed out. I think it shaved a bit off the 2,185.3 total trail mileage. Woohoo!

We lunched at Saunders Shelter, which was a long 1/4 mile off the trail and buggy. Honestly, all I remember about today is aching feet and sweat. I had the song "You're Never There" stuck in my head most of the day because I felt like the last shelter of the day was so far away. Sometimes I wish I could walk on my hands sometimes to give my feet a break. When I weighed my pack this morning before leaving the hostel it weighed 35.8 lbs. I'm holding steady at around 112, which was my starting weight. That means my poor little legs are hauling around about 150 pounds and they aren't very happy about it sometimes.

Wiki is here at our shelter tonight. He packed in marshmallows and someone started a fire so we could roast them. Yum! After dinner I walked to the water source to clean my pot. It was in a swampy area and I ended up plunging my foot right into the nasty water. I used my dirty pot water to rinse off my foot and Croc, so I ended up with cous cous between my toes Meh. I just left it there. Cous cous is probably one of the less offensive things I've had stuck to me.

Depending on how far we hike tomorrow, we might hit the 500 mile mark and see the ponies in the Grayson Highlands. That'd be awesome! I've been looking forward to the ponies since I found out they existed a couple of years ago.

Best Thing: Bandana bathing in the spring that crossed the trail before we reached the shelter.
Looking Forward To: Getting closer to seeing the ponies!