Today’s Miles: 18.4
Trip Miles: 422
John Wayne: “ Off Day” – McLintock
Woke up at 4:00 a.m. to pouring rain and thunder. Back to sleep. Woke up at 7:00 to steady rain. Forgot to mention that I’m in a loft room right under a tin roof with little to no insulation.
Very perplexed on what to do today. Many others are also unsure. That was a LOT of rain yesterday, last night, and right now. The forecast shows big thunderstorms headed our way until 1:00 today and then it gets decent in the early afternoon. But…the creeks are very swollen and the trails we can see from the hostel are still flooded. I am supposed to be at Boots Off Hostel for the night day after tomorrow. Then hike another 1.5 days to meet Dana on Thursday late afternoon.
It’s cold, rainy, my knee hurts on both front and back sides, and it’s 8.8 miles to the next shelter with half of that uphill right out of the gate. Damn Velcro on the knee brace tore me up good.
They are famous here for their breakfast which I bought along with my room. Ate a massive feast at 8:00 a.m. Then wished Dana happy birthday:)
Checkout is at 10:00 and the store opens at 9:00. Went to the store to get supplies for the next two days and the staff person working the register mentioned that my room is not sold tonight….yet. Side note, there were about 12 tents set up last night and the bunk room was full. Most of the tent people are wet this morning.
Screw it…I decided to grab the room for tonight and not deal with the rain and mud today. I’ll replan my get together with Dana, do chores, update blogs, and head out tomorrow early. The rest of the week looks like perfect weather. Those people who did decide to hike today mostly ventured out about noon and they are all headed to that same shelter 8.8 miles away. Gonna be crowded and muddy.
I was able to move my reservation at Boots Off Hostel from tomorrow to Wednesday. It’s a bit over 32 miles, but that was my plan all along. I’ll break it into 2 parts, obviously. Exactly how is a game-time call, recognizing there is a big mountain to go up and down the last 5 miles right before Boots Off. Also, Overkill will be on the same schedule as she has a reservation there Wednesday night as well.
Spent a lot of time today trying to figure out where to stay for 3 nights next weekend with Dana. My original plan was Abingdon, VA, but the places I liked are all booked, and I will still be a few days south in TN due to weather and other delays. I eventually decided on a loft Air B&B in downtown Johnson City, TN. It’s in the heart of the restaurant / bar district and easy walking distance to lots of stuff. Dana and I both like Johnson City. I’ll hike about 6.5 hours on Thursday, and Dana will drive about 6.5 hours to pick me up. I guess that’s a fair trade?
Spent time figuring out how to pad/protect the back of my knee from my brace. Don’t have much to work with, but I rigged up something that should help. Also worked on how to pack my backpack a little differently to try to help my back issues. Basically, putting my fleece in the dry bag with my quilt and uncompressing them to better fill the width of the bottom of my pack. The quilt used to be highly compressed in a dry bag down there, and it was not using the entire width of the pack. Long story short, that and a few other changes are intended to build up a better lumbar support and to push more weight down to the middle of my back. It’s a good theory. We will see how it works tomorrow.
I got my blogs all updated and will try to upload them tonight. The internet service is bad here, particularly for video uploads. Also, have things all packed as best I can to make a quick departure in the morning. Want to be out by 7:30 a.m.
Had a very nice smoked Ruben and tater tots at the bar for dinner. Chatted with Overkill for about an hour. Probably gonna be in bed around 9:30. Overkill also plans to be on trail early and shoot for the shelter at 18.4 miles tomorrow. The worst part SHOULD be the first 3 miles. Be nice to knock that out before the humidity builds up. Curious how bad the mud will be. Bonus, we have two waterfalls on the agenda for tomorrow!
Technical Notes:
- Nope…not today
- Water liters 0
- Miles 0
- Time 0
- Elevation gain 0
- Calories consumed a lot
- Calories burned a little
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