Resting on Easter Sunday

Sorry it has been so long since I have been able to update this blog personally, and I am very grateful to my wife Anne who has done a great job of keeping you up to date.
I've taken a zero day at a Howard Johnson's motel in Troutville, VA.  I am at about 725 miles in to this hike, and I realize I am essentially 1/3 of the way.  I did a 25 mile day yesterday to get in just after dark last night.  As you can see from the photo of my right foot, I needed today to be a day of healing. 

Ouch!

 
 
Nova, a fellow engineer from Nova Scotia, has been my travel companion for much of the past two weeks.  He had gotten a half day ahead of me a few days before arriving here, and he was good enough to share a hotel room and have a half pizza waiting for me when I got in.  Unfortunately, Nova is a section hiker who has finished his section.  He will be off the trail until he decides to start his next section... and I'll miss his company.

Tom and Nova at coffee shop Easter morning

As an aside... I had to put my head lamp on for the last 20 minutes or so of the hike yesterday evening.  I try to avoid putting it on as long as possible, because once it is on you suffer from tunnel vision - only being able to see what is directly in the beam of light.  I had my second fall of the trail when I looked up suddenly and found myself an inch from a big spider who had apparently started building his web at dusk.  I threw my head back so suddenly that I lost my balance and went over backwards.  Fortunately, the trail was soft there... so no damage done except to my ego.  (I had immediately looked around to see if anyone saw me, of course, but there aren't usually a lot of people on the trail after dark.)
Spring continues to unfold in the Appalachians, and it is awesome to watch.  Some of the forest floors at the lower elevations that showed nothing but the dead leaves of last year a few weeks ago are turning green.

Spring along the trail

  Many of the trees are starting to leaf out, or in the case of flowering trees, bud out.  The last week of hiking included some of the more well known parts of the trail.
 Dragon's Tooth, which I crossed two days ago has rungs built into the rock in a couple of places and required me to put down the hiking poles to climb in a couple of spots.  It also required real caution on the descent.  But the formation itself and the view from the top were magnificent.  Yesterday I reached McAffee Knob, which is probably the most photographed spot on the trail.

Tom at McAffee Knob

 

  Even though I went up to it on the Saturday of Easter weekend, which meant I was joined by a whole lot of other hikers, the beauty of that spot (my photo doesn't begin to do it justice) is hard to describe.  About five miles later, I was at Tinker's Cliffs which was also magnificent and absent the crowds.
I have run into a father-daughter section hiker pair from Athens, GA over the past couple of weeks at various places who are on my hero list.  Among the things they did for me: 1) provided a cord for hanging my food bag, 2) found and returned to me my wristwatch, which had popped off my wrist at a spring where I was refilling my Nalgene bottle, and 3) provided me with just enough iodine tablets to make sure I could make it to my next resupply spot when I had run low.  Thanks Skittles and Goofy!

A 300 year old Keefer Oak

As the hike progresses and weather begins to warm, here are two changes I have implemented in my eating habits.  When I leave town, I try to take one onion and one green pepper with me.  I have found that if I dice those up and sautee them in olive oil it makes whatever I am eating for dinner taste better.  Many of the hikers are motivated mostly by conserving fuel, so they will only boil water and pour it into a Mountain House dehydrated meal bag.  Who knows... maybe as this progresses I will start doing the same, to avoid having to carry so much fuel.  The second change I have made is - since it is no longer so cold in the morning - adding powdered milk and a chocolate flavored protein mix to my Nalgene bottle, mixing it well, and enjoying what tastes like a good chocolate shake.
At this point - again, about a third in - I feel good about what I have accomplished so far and about my chances of being able to finish this hike!