We were up early and on the trail by 7:30 am. El Dorado’s ride was scheduled to pick him up at 5pm and we had ~16 miles to cover to meet it. The day’s hike started with a 3,000 ft climb right from camp and the goal was to summit before it got too hot in the day.
I nearly stepped on a snack during the climb, luckily it turned out to be just some skin left behind. I should probably be more careful though. After the peak we crossed under the guillotine, a cool suspended rock formation.
It’s really frustrating to be going up and over all of these mountains and just cross the Blue Ridge Parkway at each gap. It’s supremely tempting to just hike along the parkway and skip the endless ups and downs but I haven’t caved – yet.
We made it to El D’s pick-up point around 2:30pm, I hung out for a few minutes before heading out for my final 8 miles of the day. I hope he enjoys the weekend and his friend’s wedding.
Today was my first 20+ mile day where I didn’t need ibuprofen during the hike. I took some once I got to camp, more to prevent my feet from swelling overnight than actual pain. However, it’s still a huge improvement from where I’ve been so far.
Peach is offering to slack pack from The Priest Shelter into Lexington on Monday, it’ll be 2 22 mile days for me to get there, but it may be worth it. I could slack pack the final 16 miles into Devils Backbone Brewery to wait for the rest of the tramily.
There’s a group of ladies having a “girl’s weekend” staying at the shelter tonight. They were kind enough to share some of their wine with me, so now I’m swinging in the hammock with a good book and wine in my belly – it’s a good evening.
Day 71 Mileage: 22.6 mi [Bryant Ridge Shelter -> Matt’s Creek Shelter]
Total Mileage: 793.2 mi