Day 109 - From Darkness Into Darkness (18/10/2016)

I started hiking in the dark again today. I'm liking the early morning starts. It makes it easy to get a good day in before the end of the daylight, so I don't have to cook in the dark. Also saw another owl.

That said, hiking in the dark (morning or night) requires a headlamp. Which I appear to have left on a rock somewhere in Shenandoah National Park. Fortunately I only have to get to Thursday without it, when I'll overnight in Waynesboro, Virginia. In the meantime, I guess I'm forced to sleep in a bit, because breaking camp in the dark is a great way to forget more things.

Start: Bald Mountain

End: Loft Mountain

Distance: 20.8 miles

Day 92 - Shhh. Be vewy vewy quiet, I'm hunting wabbits. (1/10/2016)

It's hunting season! The whole day was punctuated by gunshots in the distance. Like, a lot of gunshots. I've decided it's time to put away my deer impressions and wear orange.

SC and Pancake had planned to head to Hamburg for dinner, then find a stealth site near the road. I decided to join them, and we also met with Shakespeare (who I hadn't seen since Maine) and Flatland.

By the time Pancake finished her laundry, and we got Shakespeare and Flatland back to their shelter, it was 9 pm. That's around midnight HST (Hiker Standard Time). SC dropped Pancake and I off at the trailhead and started for home, while we night-hiked in the rain over rocky ground to find a stealth site.

So after three months, I've done just under 1,000 miles (987.7). Phew.

Start: Port Clinton
End: stealth near PA183
Distance: 14.7 miles

Day 75 - Mail woes 2: the return of mail woes (14/9/2016)

Still no package, and for some reason the USPS has sent it to New Hampshire for processing. I tried to call USPS, but as is the case a lot these days, it's impossible to talk to an actual human and there was no option for reporting lost mail.

I debated squatting on the post office property in protest, but figured I should get some miles instead. This meant that I'd be walking with no map, and no guidebook for the next little while until my mail drop made it to me. I hit the trail mid-afternoon and it was hot and humid. I decided to keep my clothes on this time, and attempt a new strategy: sleep through the heat and walk at night. I napped for a bit on the forest floor and started hiking, aiming to do 15 miles or more. At the 5 mile mark I stopped at RPH shelter for dinner, where Half-fool caught up to me and decided to join me for the night-hike. It was a great evening - we had some nice moonlit views of lakes from the ridges, had a snack on a beach at night, and I got to meet my first copperhead snake.

We managed the 15 miles around 1 AM and set up camp on a nice little site.

Start: Stormville, NY
End: Dennytown Rd
Distance: 15.3 miles