Day 35 – Thomas Knob Shelter to Hurricane Road

I slept quite poorly as it was very hard to stay warm. Although the open side of the shelter faced away from the wind, I could feel the gusts of cold air drawing heat away from me whenever I was awake. I usually turn my phone off when I go to bed, then on when I wake in the middle of the night,  to save battery, so that my alarm wakes me up (currently set for 5:55 a.m.) but I was so cold I decided to leave it off so I could get more sleep. I woke at 6:50 and Newman was on the other side of the shelter. He had arrived after dark, having got held up in a long chat with Speedy shortly after I met him.

It’s a good thing I had gone to bed early.  From 7pm to 6:50 am is almost 12 hours. Even though I spent a lot of the night awake and cold, I felt like I got a good 8 hours of sleep in those 12 hours.

It was still very cold when I woke, so I did the bare minimum for breakfast – a cup of dry cereal – and hit the trail with four layers on top including my puffy. My fingers took a long time to thaw.  I saw ice on the ground at one point so I know it was below freezing overnight.

Soon after I left the shelter I came to a post with the digits 5 0 0 written vertically on it, showing I’m already 500 miles done!

A lot of high grasslands today.  Some beautiful views. For some reason Virginia has decided it’s a good idea to let ponies loose in a wide area, to keep invasive weeds and shrubs under control. While the ponies are hard to spot, massive piles of manure were in evidence for at least ten miles of the trail, and in that same area every blade of grass was shorn to within an inch of the ground. In the afternoon I did see a group of ponies in the distance.

I decided tonight to camp at as low an altitude as possible since it is supposed to be cold again. The lower and more sheltered I am, the better my chances of a good night’s sleep. I’m at an unofficial campsite near a road. A car is going by now but it’s the first I’ve heard since arriving over two hours ago. A bit sad to be alone tonight and not to have had much in the way of conversation today but I enjoyed the hiking and had a filling dinner complete yet again with wild leeks.

Mile 499.4 to mile 516.7 = 17.3 miles.