April 23 -- Wednesday
When I woke up this morning it wasn't raining. I had hopes for an early start. That just didn't happen. That said, it is good to be able to spend some time talking with other people on the trail. Some folks form what is called a tramily (trail family). We seem to be bumping into a few of them as we hike.
Generally I feel like we are still a little slower than most of the other hikers. Today we hiked 9.3 miles and I feel like we had a stride for a while. The uphill sections seemed not as steep today, that could have helped as well.
I also kept the pace pretty well after we saw a snake on the trail. The adrenaline rush had me moving faster for a bit.
There were scattered showers and some rolling thunder. Rain both speeds me up and slows me down. If the terrain looks safe, I can keep a steady pace. Once it looks slippery I slow down. I've already twisted my ankle once, and not badly, I prefer to avoid another mishap if possible.
One of the problems we encountered today is the mandatory use of bear canisters. The information we had was saying strongly encouraged. With some rearranging we were able to get everything, including the bag we have been hanging, into our Bear Vault. If I hadn't seen how much food was in there I'd be concerned we might run out before our next town run.
That is an interesting dilemma we have. When we try to carry enough food to not go to town for a while, the packs are heavy enough to slow us down. It is something we are working on remedying.
In the morning, we can split up the food so things we will eat during the day can be in the bag, and dinner stuff in the Bear Vault.
There were some amazing views today where we could see for miles and miles.
Maybe tomorrow we will have enough internet that I can start sending some of the blogs I've been writing.
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| Lens thinks this is a Yellow Trout Lily. |
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| Wood Anenome (Lens) |
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| Barometer Earthstar - Fungus (Lens) |
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| Red Trillium (Lens) |
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| Blurry yellow flowers (me ;) ) |
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| Cutleaf Toothwort (Lens) |
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| Appalachian Barren Strawberry ? (Lens and me) |
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| Viola |
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| Bluets (or Quaker Ladies -- Lens) |
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| Bridge |
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| Standing Indian Mountain |
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Bel & I at Standing Indian Shelter with the mountain behind us.
Photo taken by a nice gentleman from New Zealand.
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| Eastern Garter Snake (Lens. It looks lighter than the garter snakes at home) |
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| Then we went down the mountain. |
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| Camping at Beech Gap |
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| Sunset |
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I downloaded the Merlin App.
These are the birds the app thinks I am hearing. I have seen Ovenbirds here and there. |
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Thank you for being here and being part of my daily happy things. Stay safe!
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