Day 33 - Mar 25
I'm not sure how much rain we got, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was an inch. It really rained hard last night.
We got up at 745 and tore down camp. We ate a few pop tarts and started hiking by 845.
After hiking for an hour or so, we walked through a green cow pasture where we heard a hundred birds chirping. We were perplexed by how many different bird chirps we were hearing at once.
After leaving the pasture, we started our ascent up whitetop, 2000 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles. We took a break halfway up but made decent time. At this point in the day (10 am) the rain was starting to let up but the fog was still very thick. We didnt have any view from the top so we started our descent.
While descending whitetop we started to notice that the trail had alot of water on it. In fact, the trail was basically a stream. There was so much water running off of the mountainside that the trail itself had become a stream. For the first hour of walking through these conditions were tried to step around the water and avoid it as well as we could. As we ascended our second mountain of the day, Mt. Roger's, which is also Virginia's highest peak, we gave up on trying to keep our feet dry. There were several sections of the trail where there was an inch or two of running / standing water. By this point, our shoes and socks were so wet that it made no difference whether we tried to avoid the water or step it in. So to save ourselves the time of meticulously stepping around the water, on walking on slippery rocks and roots, we decided to just walk right through it. These trail conditions lasted for most of the late morning and early afternoon. There simply wasnt anywhere for the abundance of water to go. Definetly a new condition to deal with.
By the time we started our descent of mount Roger's, the sky began to clear. At this point as well, we entered the grayson highlands, a large section of trail where there are wild ponies and several bald and shrub sections. We had been anticipating this section for so long and were so thankful when we started the see blue sky and feel the warmth of the sun on us, which havent been felt in quite awhile.
The grayson highlands were beautiful. There were several times today where we took a break and just stared out the endless expanse of new mountains in front of us. So nice to have views again.
We made it to camp at 7 tonight, we took alot of breas throughout the day and even made a wrong turn at one point that cost us a few minutes. We walked 20 miles today and plan on doing the same tomorrow.
Since tonight is the first clear night we have had in what feels like forever, we decided to not put the rain fly's on our tent. We are now staring up at a beautiful night sky, lit up with stars. An owl even landed over our camp a few minutes ago. I shone my light on it while walker took a picture. Really cool to see one that up close.
Looking forward to another day of good weather tomorrow.
Finally, we hit the 500 mile mark today!
Goodnight,
Tyler M.
We got up at 745 and tore down camp. We ate a few pop tarts and started hiking by 845.
After hiking for an hour or so, we walked through a green cow pasture where we heard a hundred birds chirping. We were perplexed by how many different bird chirps we were hearing at once.
After leaving the pasture, we started our ascent up whitetop, 2000 feet of elevation gain in 3 miles. We took a break halfway up but made decent time. At this point in the day (10 am) the rain was starting to let up but the fog was still very thick. We didnt have any view from the top so we started our descent.
While descending whitetop we started to notice that the trail had alot of water on it. In fact, the trail was basically a stream. There was so much water running off of the mountainside that the trail itself had become a stream. For the first hour of walking through these conditions were tried to step around the water and avoid it as well as we could. As we ascended our second mountain of the day, Mt. Roger's, which is also Virginia's highest peak, we gave up on trying to keep our feet dry. There were several sections of the trail where there was an inch or two of running / standing water. By this point, our shoes and socks were so wet that it made no difference whether we tried to avoid the water or step it in. So to save ourselves the time of meticulously stepping around the water, on walking on slippery rocks and roots, we decided to just walk right through it. These trail conditions lasted for most of the late morning and early afternoon. There simply wasnt anywhere for the abundance of water to go. Definetly a new condition to deal with.
By the time we started our descent of mount Roger's, the sky began to clear. At this point as well, we entered the grayson highlands, a large section of trail where there are wild ponies and several bald and shrub sections. We had been anticipating this section for so long and were so thankful when we started the see blue sky and feel the warmth of the sun on us, which havent been felt in quite awhile.
The grayson highlands were beautiful. There were several times today where we took a break and just stared out the endless expanse of new mountains in front of us. So nice to have views again.
We made it to camp at 7 tonight, we took alot of breas throughout the day and even made a wrong turn at one point that cost us a few minutes. We walked 20 miles today and plan on doing the same tomorrow.
Since tonight is the first clear night we have had in what feels like forever, we decided to not put the rain fly's on our tent. We are now staring up at a beautiful night sky, lit up with stars. An owl even landed over our camp a few minutes ago. I shone my light on it while walker took a picture. Really cool to see one that up close.
Looking forward to another day of good weather tomorrow.
Finally, we hit the 500 mile mark today!
Goodnight,
Tyler M.
Well you hit the 500 mark so you're roughly 25% complete, let's hope you can continue to re-supply. Good luck out there, enjoy and be safe maybe you'll get some more blue sky and sunny days.
ReplyDeleteWhat a beautiful day... the Highlands sound remarkable! You boys are getting good at wading in streams. See any brown trout swim by?
ReplyDeleteBtw, you see any wild horses? Now, you boys can start singing, "And I would walk 500 miles..."
ReplyDelete