Bama to Baxter, day eleven: my first 20+ mile day

I slept well enough last night to be fully awake by 4:00 am, so I decided to start earlier than usual to see if I could catch up on Hot Tang and Two Meals today so we could travel as a group to Piedmont tomorrow. I was packing and walking at 5:00. I don’t mind walking in the dark, but it does require me to focus more on the trail to avoid tripping or slipping. In short, it was a glorious morning of walking. When I took my first break at 9:00, I had already walked ten miles. Don’t get too excited for me yet, as I hadn’t started any of the 1,100 feet of climbing that awaited me that day.

As has been my habit lately, I put on my headphones and rocked out for the second half of the day. In my trail stupor (too focused on the trail), I totally missed the opportunity to see an old church, two ancient ruin sites, and the site of a plane crash from the 1980s. I did manage to notice a couple of damn beautiful lakes along the way. On the second lake I saw two young men fishing from their kayaks and called out to them, «Hey, is there anything biting?» It took a second for my greeting to reach them, and when it did, they seemed a little surprised. «Nothing yet.» I said goodbye and continued north. Today’s climb was mostly gradual, with only a couple of tough sections. No dizziness yet. Thank you, darling, for discovering what ails me. ❤️❤️❤️

Last night, my intended destination for the day was a tent site at the fifteen mile mark. I got there at noon, so I decided to push forward to a shelter just beyond the top of the mountain. I had plenty of food and water and felt great. Doing so would also allow me to have an easier day tomorrow. My pace slowed down on this part of the climb because the slope was steeper and there were more rocks in the way, but I still made it to the shelter at 3:30 pm. The water source here wasn’t that close, so I ended up having to carry four liters to the shelter. It was only a quarter of a mile. It was fine. Typical routine at the end of the day. I still wanted to sleep early in hopes of watching Hot Tang and Two Meals tomorrow morning, so I was in my bag by 7:30. I had no cell service, so there was no ability to communicate with the people back home. I played some more solitaire until I got tired and then closed everything at 9:00.

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