Day 64 – 900 miles at 90°

I slept in this morning to help me recover from the lack of sleep I had at Trail Days. This turned out to be a mistake as I didn’t start walking until almost 10am, when the heat of the day was already quite high. Today’s high temperature is around 90° and there will be plenty of sun. Also, it looks like I may be having a reaction to the hydrocortisone cream I’ve been putting on my right foot/ankle, since this morning I woke up covered in blisters. Hurrah…

900 miles!

The hike started with a couple of easy miles as I descended from the ridge line where I camped last night. This was followed by some alternating ups and downs that weren’t too difficult either, although by now I was already drenched in sweat. A little over 3 miles after reaching my 900th mile on the trail!

In my excitement to hit the 900 mile mark, I almost stepped on this guy!

Come on man!

The trail wound around and across Skyline Drive several times this morning, and I saw the same guy cutting the ditches along the road several times. And I could tell he was pretty close by the fact that I could hear his tractor mowing the grass. When I had gone about 8 miles during the day, I hit a wall. I had been doing what I thought was a good job of hydrating and drank 4.5 liters of water at 2 pm (remember, I started walking at 10 am) and ate a little too. But it simply had no power, probably due to the heat. I rode a couple more miles to High Top Shelter, a little over 10 miles during the day. I stayed there for over 2 hours, eating a late lunch and hydrating. Drink two additional liters of water/electrolytes. This also served as an opportunity for slightly cooler weather to resume my hike.

Back to the frying pan

I started walking again around 4:30pm, maybe the weather was a little cooler? But a light breeze sprang up that helped moderate the heat a little. After a 1 mile climb, I reached the top of High Top Mountain and enjoyed a little view.

After that, the next few kilometers were downhill and in the shade, which was much appreciated. What was not appreciated were several rocky sections that wreaked havoc on feet and ankles.

These didn’t make my fingers feel any better…

After a couple of miles, my phone started vibrating, alerting me that I had reception. Reception has been pretty poor lately, so this was a welcome development. Since I’ve been slacking on my blog posts lately, I took the time to delete a couple of posts. It wasn’t the best reception, making loading images quite slow, but it still worked.

I took a break next to this big rock

I made it to where Highway 33 crosses the park and walked to the park entrance station to fill some water at the pump outside the building. Then I continued climbing once more. This section of the trail was freshly trimmed, which was a pleasant surprise. It makes it easier to see any snakes I might encounter, or perhaps more importantly, it reduces the amount of grass I walk on and the chance of ticks showing up.

Very well groomed trail

I made my last stop of the day for a freeze-dried bowl of peach cobbler a little after 8pm and it was delicious! After devouring it, I put on my headlamp and finished my last few miles of hiking. I ended up not reaching my goal for the day because I was defeated and the blisters on my right foot were becoming quite uncomfortable. So at the next stealth spot I saw I set up my tent and called it a day.

Excellent!

Statistics for day 64:

18.5 miles

4,524′ ascent, 4,022′ descent

Hidden site to hidden site

10DSLC…

Stove use times: 13

Snakes seen on the trail: 10

This website contains affiliate links, which means The Trek may receive a percentage of any products or services you purchase using links in articles or advertisements. The buyer pays the same price they would otherwise pay, and their purchase helps support The Trek’s ongoing goal of bringing you quality backpacking information and advice. Thank you for your support!

For more information, visit the About page of this site.