Day 142: WarSpur Shelter

Start: Niday Shelter (AT mi 687.8). Stop: War Spur Shelter (AT mi 669.4). Today’s miles: 18.4 miles. Total AT mileage: 1523.7 miles.

I set my alarm for 6, so I could get up and out early. It didn’t happen. I didnt get up until 6:50, mainly because I was warm and outside of my cocoon was cold, and I wanted no part in it.

Finally, I gave in and got moving. This cooler weather is not helping my disdain for waking up..
Overall I did sleep well, once I got warm. I packed and then walked over to the picnic table to eat my breakfast.. Soundscape kindly got my food bag down for me this morning. I didn’t take long to eat, mainly because I was cold.. I think I might have mom bring my mug with her when she comes to visit in a few weeks. Then again, I might just get a new one.. it looks like warm food and coffee is going to need to make a comeback. Not only for its warmth, but also for more calories.

I’m just not staying full out here this week.
The sun was shining and it was a start to another gorgeous, cool and breezy day. The sky was robins egg blue without a cloud in sight. I think I randomly smiled a lot more than I normally do, which is often, but today just seemed to keep a smile plastered on my face. The first part of the day included a climb in deep woods with no views. About 2 miles in, I had to detour to dig a hole.. such is life.

The top of the mountain was anticlimactic, except for a sign reading “Eastern Continental Divide.” It got rocky from there, with some sporadic views. The trail was very overgrown for a large part of the mileage on top of this mountain, and several times I had to pull out my app to figure out if I was even still on trail or if I had gotten side tracked some how.

The downhill was steep, but thankfully the valley between then mountains went through more fields and pastures. This area was my favorite of the day. Rolling hills, trees in the distance, the skinny path to follow.. I loved it! The sky was so blue and the sun felt so good, I was in heaven. When I came to the gate taking me back into the woods, I crossed paths with the Keffer Oak tree, the second largest tree on the Appalachian Trail! Pretty cool, especially with how much I love trees in general.

From the huge oak, the trail went past a road and then started climbing again. There was an area around Laurel Creek that required crossing the creek. After the recent storm, that baby is rushing! One crossing caused me to take pause, as I was worried my shoes wouldn’t grasp the steep rock on the other side and I’d slide back down into the water.. I managed it ok, and left with dry feet, but because of the almost 450 miles on these shoes, I went ahead and messaged mom when I got service and asked her to mail the new shoes to me. I can’t wait 3 more weeks with this pitiful tread.

From the creek area, the trail started to steeply climb up to Kelly Knob. It was so overgrown in areas that I didn’t even waste the time to go to the view point. But when I realized I had full service, I sat on a log in full sunshine for about 45 minutes uploading pictures and updating yesterday’s blog. I might not have time to do that tomorrow since I’ll be going a lot farther tomorrow.. actually, as I’m thinking on it, I better make myself get up earlier, too. But who knows,I may have to night hike tomorrow evening or just stop early. There’s only so much daylight these days.. and it’s only getting shorter. That’s a terrifying thought! Cold and dark does not sound fun.

Anyway. I finished slowly hiking to the shelter by 6:15pm. My feet were aching and the rocks had them pretty angry at me. While parts were pretty, it was mostly unremarkable, really. I still enjoyed myself though. I picked a spot for my tent, I’m right in between a couple I’ve never met, the praise team is their collective name.. and Soundscape. It kinda stinks we have to be this close, but it’s the only spots here. Also, Moose, a SOBO that was at the shelter last night is staying in this shelter, too.

After setting up home, Soundscape and I ate dinner at the picnic table with Moose. The couple had already eaten and were watching a show in their tent. I ended up eating fast and putting my food bag in the air to hurry up and get into my tent and into my quilt to warm up. I’m warmer than last night, but not by much. I prefer this, being cooler in general. It makes the hiking nicer and gets rid of the bugs.. and nothing sucks more than bugs-and trying to sleep all hot and sticky. This coolness just requires a warm up time.
Ok, that’s all I know for today. Clearly I’m less chatty when I’m cold.. sorry about that.

Goodnight, y’all.