Misty Mountain High: 600 mile marker

Saturday, May 23, 2026

Today I build a collection of 600 mile markers. I notice similarities between balancing my current obligations with those of my college years.

Straight to it

TOAlthough my campsite was only a few tenths of a mile from Interstate 77, the noise was minimal and not a single car passed on the road all night. I put it into reverse gear around 7:30 am and was making progress on the trail shortly after eight.

If you’ve been a little disconcerted by my hectic itinerary changes and jumps over the past few days, I have good news. Today is an easy 12.3 mile round trip hike. I’m excited for one of my favorite trail meets, another century mile marker. About halfway through each leg of the hike, I’ll pass the 600-mile mark.

Although there was a slight chill in the air, I felt warm and comfortable almost immediately. If I could avoid heavy rain, we would have perfect conditions for a hike today. Although it wasn’t actively raining, once I finished the first climb I could only see misty clouds from the trail.

Balancing super important priorities

While my main focus is, of course, my hike, I’m also balancing a few other obligations. I absolutely insist on keeping up to date with the 2026 Formula One season. This weekend brings another extended event with two qualifying sessions and two races. After my walk tonight, I’ll do my best to catch up and have enough time to finish all my blogs and post them while I’m in town tomorrow. I’ll start off on the wrong foot now, as I’ll reserve about two hours for the main afternoon race.

Yesterday I spent about three hours writing and editing all the blogs I’ve written so far this week. I can only type very well using speech to text while walking. That assumes I can type, which isn’t the case unless conditions are dry and the trail is flat enough to walk with my phone in hand. During the three hours I wrote about the last day and a half from scratch because rainy conditions prevented me from writing on the road.

Another fun obligation is my role as commissioner of a fantasy football league. Each year I prepare a series of surveys to set the date of the annual draft, decide any rule changes and other elements necessary to keep the league running well. As a team owner, I must do everything I can to stay up to date with relevant NFL news. I also have to set my own team up for success, which means evaluating my current workforce and determining what changes I should consider and when to make them.

There’s something familiar about all this

With all of this happening off trail, I find that concluding my hike is far from the conclusion of my day. I find myself having to think about when to set aside time for these various activities in the small window of time I have at night. This reminds me a lot of my university years. I worked on campus 40 hours a week while balancing a full academic load. As a double major, sometimes I even had an extra course. My work schedule was often a 2-3 hour shift in the middle of the day, followed by a 4-6 hour shift at night. Finding time to complete assignments and study for exams between work shifts was essential.

Interestingly, I found that the busy schedule forced me to plan ahead and start my schoolwork earlier. There was no room for procrastination, that would have derailed my entire semester. Similarly, I now have to fill all my downtime with the aforementioned activities. It’s the only way to keep up with my walking, continue producing daily blog content, and stay in touch with my hobbies, which are much harder to enjoy if I fall behind.

600 mile markers

I was looking for 600 mile markers and found 3 of them at the 400 mile marker. The 500 mile marker was a permanent sign, so I didn’t see any additional natural markers. Today there were 4,600 mile markers made from various remnants of the trail. Shortly after the score it started to rain steadily. The temperature also seemed to drop and I noticed my hands getting cold and wet. They were also busy with my trekking poles, which can take a toll on them even on good days. I stopped to pee and found I couldn’t manipulate my fingers well. I managed to loosen the belt buckle, but was struggling with the button at the top of the fly. My fingers simply couldn’t produce any grip between them to hold the material tightly. It took me a minute, but I managed to open the button after some effort.

A 600 mile marker made of rocks.

A 600 mile marker made of some type of flower or grass.

A 600 mile marker made of sticks.

A second 600 mile marker made of sticks.

There is no magic today

Since it was Saturday, I felt there was a good chance of finding a magical trail on Route 608. It’s a paved road, easily accessible to anyone. I was putting off opening my snack in the hope that there would be hot food in the middle of the day. It wasn’t easy to get to my snack either. It was hidden on my camel back, which was under my poncho. To get to the camel, I need to take off my poncho, which was of no use in the rain.

When I reached the road, there was only one vehicle and no magical traces were found. I decided to walk back to the shelter about a mile south. There I would have a dry place to take a short break and start my snack. On the way I met a woman whose first question was: “Are there magical trails along the way?” Obviously she was thinking along the same lines as me. I informed him that unfortunately there were none. She responded with a wrinkled face and a frown.

Running until the weekend

After my break at the Jenny Knob Shelter, I had to run 11 straight miles back to the van. I was thinking about the food I would eat tomorrow while watching the Formula One race. I set an aggressive pace and started walking well. Trail conditions were excellent. The trail was full of dirt and wide for the AT. From time to time, some wet bushes intruded into the trail, something of an obstacle to the hikers’ car wash.

I fumbled for my poncho. It kept me dry, but if I pulled down the hood, the poncho would slide up, pressing the fabric against my neck. With the top up, I had the noise of the material in my ears, which wasn’t optimal when it wasn’t raining. I decided to trim the material when I got back to the truck. There was also quite a bit of material hanging off the back since the poncho was not over my backpack. That material was wet and constantly rubbing against the back of my legs. These were minor things, but they were the most important thing when I was otherwise just focused on finishing the hike.

It was great to end the week with a strong walk. I made it to the van before 5:00 pm, setting my pace for the return leg at about 3 miles per hour. Taking off my wet shoes and socks to walk was spectacular. I quickly drove the truck to the highway where I had service to get an early start on my day off with some Formula One action.

It’s a misty spring day on the road.

-See you tomorrow

Total: 24.5 miles, 53,340 steps

• Hike type: Day hike
• Campground: Minivan, Bland, VA

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