Day 127: Pinefield Hut

Start: Lewis Campground (AT mi 918). Stop: Pinefield Hut (AT mi 898.2). Today’s miles: 19.8 miles. Total AT mileage: 1294.9 miles

I slept pretty good at the campground, eventually. I struggled falling asleep at first because of the noise and the lights from the bath house shining through my tent. After trying and failing for about 30 minutes to fall asleep, I decided I’d put my face mask on and wear it over my eyes. I was asleep in minutes.

I woke up through the night to hearing the rain starting to coming down. I stayed cozy and dry in my tent, so cozy that I didn’t want to get up at 7 when I knew I had to. I had another long day ahead, and if it was going to continue raining, it would probably make things slower going for me. When I finally let the air out of my mattress and took off my “eye” mask, Jerzy had already brought me my food bag!

I got up and went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth and my hair. My battery bank was fully charged too, and right where I left it. I went back to the tent and crawled back in, glad I let the air out of the mattress or I’d be tempted to get back in my sleeping bag and take a nap. Lol instead I packed everything inside the tent, ate my breakfast, and finally got all the way out to pack the tent itself. Nothing sucks more than packing a wet tent, but it’s really not too bad with this Duplex. At least I knew it would dry out fast later.

I hit the trail at 8, thinking Jerzy would catch me within a few minutes. I never saw him, he was going to a hostel in town, so maybe he’ll catch me in the coming days. Since it was raining, I thought I’d leave off the bug net, but I still ended up wearing it a lot of the day anyway. I listened to an audiobook and walked in the rain.

I went up and over some mountains, the viewpoints didn’t tease me today, since the skies were white with mist and clouds. I only saw 4 other hikers, relatively back to back sometime before noon. I heard a few more around then, too.. but that’s it. I saw a ton of deer though, darting about, actually skittish for once.

I ate lunch on a wet rock, and because my butt was cold, I didn’t stay seated for long. I only filled up water once, and then didn’t even drink what I got for some reason. I just didn’t feel thirsty.. which overall wasn’t a bad thing, since there wasn’t many places to get water today.

The sun came out this afternoon, but because I was in the canopy of trees and forest, I didn’t get to feel it, or dry my stuff out quicker because of it. I made it to the shelter I was aiming for by 4:15, too beat to consider pushing forward. My feet were aching, not only from the mileage, but also from the wetness of my socks and shoes.

I laid out my tent to dry some while I scoped the place out. I picked the flattest tentsite and left my trekking poles there to claim in, just in case a Boy Scout troop showed up or something else equally as unlikely happened. I washed off and filtered water, changed clothes and put up my tent. It was mostly dry on the inside, so I even unpacked everything too.

I ate dinner at the picnic table and then sat there and worked out my plan for the next few days. I put my food in the bear box and headed back to my tent to get warm and get away from the mosquitos. Now that I’m laying here typing all of this up, I hear a man on a radio/walkie talkie down at the shelter.. I’m assuming it’s probably a ridge runner or a ranger, but I’m not sure. Part of me wants to walk down there so he realizes I’m here, and doesn’t think the shelter and camping area are empty and take my food bag-but the other part of me is just now getting warm and doesn’t plan on ruining that.

Pray my food is there in the morning! Haha I’m sure it will be. I’ll get to another wayside camp store tomorrow morning, and get a light resupply that will get me through the next couple days until I can get into town. I’m hoping they have service there and I can sit a while and upload yesterday’s and today’s blogs.. I haven’t had hardly a bar of 4g all day!

Anyway, I think that’s all I know for now! Goodnight y’all!