Wrong Turn (Day 47) – The Walk

Today was hard. We didn’t start walking until after noon, mostly because we wanted to sleep late at the Airbnb in Damascus. I always find it harder to motivate myself to walk after a zero day. It almost makes me want to skip them entirely.

Back on the road

A small group of us were dropped off at mile 512 this afternoon. I continued straight down the trail, knowing I needed to pick up the pace to cover a few miles. The goal was to walk about 15.5 miles today and starting this late would make it difficult. I covered the first few miles and then stopped for water and snacks. Not long after resuming the walk I made a mistake.

wrong turn

I was going down the AT over a ridge and didn’t realize that at one point it reverses and heads in the opposite direction. This turn missed me completely and I continued straight along what I thought was the trail. I probably followed this for 0.75 miles before I checked my FarOut map and realized it was totally off. After turning around, I ran into another hiker who had done the same thing. This ended up adding about 1.5 miles to my day’s trip. Not great when you’re already in a hurry.

magic trail

I was in a bit of a bad mood after my mistake, but I was cheered up when I received trail magic at Dickey Gap. A sweet woman named Laura had come from Minnesota. He wants to go hiking once he retires and I’m hoping he gets his chance. She made us peanut butter sandwiches (on gluten-free bread!) and provided us with soft drinks and snacks. It was just the push I needed to keep moving.

Golden Hour

I wasn’t sure I would make it to 15.5 miles today and I was feeling really tired with about 3 miles to go. I’m so glad I kept moving, because we ended up walking through a cow meadow during golden hour. The sun was setting and everything was illuminated. The cows watched us curiously and some even stopped right in the path. I thought about how I could have missed it if I had decided to stop sooner.

We didn’t get to camp until nightfall and for the first time I set up my tent in the dark. I ate by lamplight and chatted briefly with two Canadian hikers. They were heading south and I told them about the cows before going to sleep.

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