Well at least one day anyway. May 8th was the hottest day we've had so far. I was told it was over 90, but I can't verify. What I can tell you was that it was incredibly sunny with no clouds, breeze, and very little shade. I walked along grassy ridges and fields most of the day. The first water source that was less than a half mile off trail was over 8 miles from the Brown Mountain Creek shelter where I stayed the previous night (side note: Brown Mountain Creek was a former freed slaves community and there were some interesting information boards along the creek. I'd never heard of ash cake before).
That was a hot 8 miles. Happily I ran into a day hiker who was up on the bald. We talked for a bit and after I'd started off again she hollered at me and came running after. She said "Do you want any ice water? I have plenty." She'd frozen her water before coming out. It was blessedly cold and refreshing.
When I did reach the next water, I still had to walk 1/3 mile off trail for it. I passed a stand of pine trees, though, with soft pine needle carpeting and thick shade. I ate lunch there, and then just dozed off for a short nap. It was still pretty warm when I got up, but I felt a lot better.
Topo and Grasshopper caught up with me towards late afternoon, they'd zeroed in Buena Vista. Apparently I missed quite a nice place, but I was heading towards meeting my wife so I didn't worry about it. They stopped to "splash around" in the river and camped kind of early, but I pressed on. I made it to Spy Rock a little before dark, and there were three recent VMI grads there. They were going to receive their commissions next week, and this was their last hurrah. Marines. One of them gave me a Clif bar, said "You need it more than me." I didn't argue.
Skipped The Priest shelter. There's a tradition of going there to write a confession in the register, apparently they're usually pretty humorous. I was trying to hit 30 miles, though, so passed it up. Didn't make it, though. The Priest is a mountain with an extremely rocky and steep descent of over 3000 feet, and then you will immediately start climbing the Three Ridges Mountain (3000 feet up). I was super tired, and I'd been walking by headlamp for a couple of hours so I found a wide spot at the bottom of the Priest and spread my poncho out for some cowboy camping. Only hit a little over 28 miles for the day. I'm kidding about the only. That's still quite a lot for me!
Kristo the Lion. Came in late to the shelter, and in the morning picked up a ton of trash other people had left at the shelter. Good guy.
So hot!
Ice Water Lady took this.
There was a swing.
And I swung.
Night of the Lupus. That is the rabbit one, right?
Where I slept.
When we did the Priest, I'd tried to 'save weight' by lightning my food bag. Major stupid, I know. I bonged at the overlook that is roughly 1/4 of the way up. From there I was walking in slow motion. We stopped for lunch at the Priest Shelter and another Letcher Countian pointed out my mistake. I've never made it since and have never bonged on a climb.
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