Tidbits from the trail

Here are some tidbits from the trail over the past week or so. There is no particular order. Enjoy

– One night I slept with just a sleeping bag liner (supposedly makes it 15 degrees warmer than the air temperature), space blanket and a tarp. It got down to the mid 30’s. I was NOT warm enough. A day later I asked Alison for my 0 degree sleeping bag back.

– The next night I was on top of Roan Mountain at Roan High Knob Shelter. This is the coldest shelter, and highest at 6,200 feet. I don’t know how low the temperature got, but I was glad to have my 0 degree bag. The trail to the shelter was hard to find, and there were several people that walked past it, even 1.5 miles out of the way and then came back. Thankfully I was not one of those people.

– I have been having strange dreams…2 of which included me drowning. When I woke up I realized I couldn’t breathe out of my nose cause it was plugged. Hmm.

– I met a Polish man whose name is Trekking Pole. This is his second thru-hike.

– Several days I was able to carry only 1 day of food at a time because Alison was able to meet me at road crossings. I also slackpacked one day. It was so nice! Now I have to carry all of my food cause Alison is on her way home. At this point I am carrying too much weight cause I have this huge fuel canister for cooking for 2 people. But, it was paid for, so I will be carrying it for awhile.

– When I was waiting for Alison one day there was an older man that came up and to talk to me. Thru-hikers are looked at as quite the specimen. People don’t quite understand, but they are in awe. It’s weird being looked at under a microscope.

– I have been trying to hand out my blog address to people I come across. In general they are excited to follow someone on the trail. Section hikers are usually the most interested because they go home and can check this. Hello to all the section hikers I’ve met!