Day 45:

Start: The Hemlocks Shelter (AT mi 1515.9). Stop: Tom Leonard Shelter (AT mi 1530.3). Today’s miles: 14.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 505.6 miles

I had another bad night of sleep. I tossed and turned and just couldn’t stay asleep.. it’s extremely frustrating, especially when you’ve taken all the steps to ensure you should be sleeping well. Pad went flat? Got a new one. Way too cold? Got my warmer bag. Feet aching? Make sure to take ibuprofen before bed. Other people snore? I have earplugs. And yet-I still can’t sleep.

This morning was the first time on this adventure that I said to myself, “I don’t want to do this.”
Tie-dye said he slept poorly too, that he was just restless. We ate breakfast together and then I started to slowly pack. Lizard got up while I was stretching, and we ended up hiking together some of the morning. The plan was to get 8 miles to road crossing to town, hitch in, resupply, hitch back, and knock out another 6+ miles to the next shelter.

That 8 miles had me in a fit. First it was a downhill that takes careful foot consideration. I’ve fallen in every state (except NY, I just rolled my ankle twice there), so being in a new state makes me cautious! The downhill wasn’t too terrible, but it started getting muggy, and with muggy comes buggies. So when you’re me and can’t move quickly downhill, suddenly you’re peppered with gnats absolutely everywhere. Ugh.
Then, once we got to the bottom, where the nice, flat, easy rolling trail appears.. it’s also swampy/boggy/standing water. Cool. So the easiest part of my day had me smacking my arms and legs every 4-6 seconds because the mosquitos were flipping swarming me! Bees were burrowing into my hair, mosquitos were biting me through my shirt, all over my arms, hands, legs, neck, face, and gnats were diving into my eyeballs and mouth. I most definitely got choked by a couple bugs today.

I was so absolutely over it. But, at some point early morning, FarOut messaged me and I found out they were planning to get to the same shelter! So, even though I was completely miserable, her little message was able to help sway my mood.
We made it to the road. As we started walking to town, with our thumbs out, we quickly got a hitch (in a Lexus no less). He dropped us off at the market and grocery store. We ate lunch from there, I sucked down Gatorade like my life currently depended on it. After we got everything we needed, we sat outside in the shade for a bit.. packed and then hit the road again. It was close to 3pm I think, maybe a little earlier.

So many cars and trucks flew past us on the way back, none stopping. Lizard even tried walking backwards so they could see her better and want to pick us up! Lol.. we walked a good 10 minutes or so before an older gentleman stopped and got us. He was actually a trail angel going to pick another hiker up to bring into town. How perfect.

We had just over 6 miles to go to get to the shelter. It took me forever. I didn’t show up til after 6pm. All the tent sites were snagged by then, so I’m in the shelter again. It was a trek to get water from here.. so after doing that we ate dinner. Tonight it’s Lizard, FarOut, HotSauce, Towely, wizard, killer, a hammocker, 2 weekenders, Swepes, and his wife. Big group!

When I laid down I was immediately attacked by bugs. So, I’ve haphazardly “hung” my tent in the bunk space I’m in. It’s not the best, but it’s bug free, so I don’t care. I’m just praying I sleep well.
I hope you do, too.