Day 92: Swimming Hole

Day 92

501 Shelter to Stealth Spot

Miles Hiked: 19.7 Miles

AT Milage: 1215.2

This morning I woke up and got my stuff together. I ate my cold oatmeal and then sat around at camp with everyone else. Jason, who drove us to town yesterday came to the shelter and told us that they were doing trail magic breakfast in the parking lot. We all went and had great french toast and sausage with juice and grapes. It was a great way to start the day, but I didn’t get on trail until almost 9am which, instantly kills my chance of getting to camp at a reasonable time. Thanks Jason for the trail magic! Everyone was very grateful for it.

After hiking about four miles away from the shelter, we hit the 1200 mile marker where Flamingo and I took pictures. Iade the sign look a little better by adding some rocks.

The whole trail was extremely rocky today. The further north we walk on the trail, the rockier it gets. Everyday there are just more and more miles of stabbing my feet on tiny rocks. Everyone’s feet are getting sore, mine that are already in a lot of pain, are doing everything they can to stay together. I’ve been having to take the maximum amount of ibuprofen that I can the past few days and I still feely feet absolutely killing me. I also have been putting on the max amount of prescription lotion I can use as well. I’m so excited to leave PA because I think my feet will feel alot better after the rocks are gone. The rocks have also made my ankles really sore and my shins are starting to bother me as well. I have been stopping in ice cold streams and buying ice from the store as much as I can.

After the 1200 mile marker we stopped at a campsite with an amazing swimming hole and waited for our new friends to join. The water was ice cold and I stood in it up to my thighs to ice my legs for fifteen minutes. After that I swung off the rope swing two times. It was a shock to my body to get into such cold water. I really didn’t want to get in because of how cold it was, but once I jumped in I was glad.

I left the swiming hole before everyone else because I knew I needed the extra time to hike. I still had about 14 miles to go and it was after noon. It sucks hiking in the heat of the day. All my energy felt so zapped from the late start and the heat. I was hiking about two miles an hour and had to sit down because I felt so exhausted. It was such a long day of hiking. My feet were screaming at every step because the rocks were so bad, I had to hike so slow because of the rocks, and the heat felt like it was almost 90 degrees. I didn’t make it to camp until 7pm. Around 8pm Trail Diva and Sloppy Joe showed up to camp with us. We are all going to town to do town chores tomorrow.