Sunday, June 14 7:50 pm 18.4 trail mi 19.4 total mi
AT 593.6 Stealth Site → AT 612.0 Stealth Site
Weather: Rain off and on until Trent’s grocery, then steady rain rest of day
Trail Conditions: Few big blowdowns, otherwise pretty smooth sailing. The water sources are overjoyed to be getting rain!
My Condition: Bottom of right foot hurt more than right ankle today. Pain went away after rolling foot vigorously with the Rubz ball. Overall, felt relatively good today!
Very happy with the rain jacket swap I made – I felt drier, warmer, less clammy, and happier than I did in the black Lightheart gear waterproof/non-breathable jacket. Reminder to self – everything is “waterproof” until it gets wet. With the moisture today, again saw lots of orange salamanders – red eft, or red spotted newts I learned they are called. After a crazy little suspension bridge, walked about a half mile to Trent’s Grocery for a resupply. The minute I got there, the sky unleashed, buckets and sheets of rain flying and thunder rolling. They have hiker beds available, and I asked if I could get one for the night. They are $20, and the employees worked their way through the phone chain trying to make sure it’s ok with the owner/manager/whoever they were finally able to get a hold of. They walk me back, and were surprised to see clothes, bags, and belongings strewn about the room, thinking yesterday’s tenant had already left before the store opened. They gave me a towel and laundry pod, and went back to the phone chain trying to figure it out. Long story short, it WAS already booked, but I was able to get my $20 back and got to do my laundry and shower for free on top of a resupply. It was an honest mistake – no harm, no foul. On the sad news front, I just learned that Lauren from back home sprained her ACL shortly after crossing into North Carolina – that really sucks, especially given how difficult the season has already been on top of all the hard work, preparation, and planning that goes into this. Here’s hoping for a speedy, full recovery!
Post Trail Analysis
Even though I got wet again pretty quickly after my swift eviction from Trent’s housing unit, my goodness is it nice to even briefly have on a set of warm, dry clothes. Belly full of fried gas station food and food bag heavy with some pretty great stuff, I saw no need to push further on, and set up camp at the first relatively flat, not-flooded patch of ground I could find. Off to the left of the trail, there was an open spot. It was tight – I was barely inches off the trail, but off the trail indeed I was. I’ll take it! The rain continuing on steady, I crawled in to my tent, did a quick toweling off of the inside, and changed into my warm, dry, clean sleep clothes. Ahh, the life of luxury!
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