Date: 2017-05-26
From: Elk Garden

To: Old Orchard Shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up to the sound of the wind pushing water off the tree branches. Some may confuse these drops on their tent with rain but in reality, i've learned that it's just the aftermath. We were immersed in thick fog this morning and thus my initial perspective of the day was not very optimistic. On my way to the bathroom; however, I noticed that the trail were significantly less saturated than the previous evening which instilled some hope in my day. I spotted two day hikers in the parking lot and asked about the weather. Apparently the sun will be out in the afternoon. I was full of complaints this morning. I entered Damascus less than enthused about hiking and I haven't been able to write over the negative attitude yet because it's been so cold and rainy. I don't understand why I've subjected myself such a sustained period of uncomfort! Given these factors, I took my time packing up, waiting for the sun to come out so I could partially dry my tent before putting it in my pack. I departed the campsite at noon. The landscape was brighter when I left the wooded campsite and entered the wide open expanses that the Appalachian Trail wove through at the start of my hiking day. I climbed Mt Rogers first thing. I'm so glad I have a view for this section of trail! If I had hiked this yesterday, I wouldn't have seen any of this. Today turned around in the blink of an eye. It's amazing how my mental health is in sync with the weather. It's also amazing how good days on the trail are often overloaded with highlights. There are high highs and low lows and not much in between. I summited the tallest mountain in Virginia today and traveled along a grassy and rocky ridgline all day. The sun was out all day and I allowed myself ample breaks to do yoga in the grass or climb the rocks I passed. I hit the 500 mile marker and I passed through the Grayson Highlands where there are wild ponies roaming in the fields. The scenery is unbelievably beautiful, I don't know how to process it. I could walk through this forever! I needed a day like this to refuel me and remind me why I'm here. I hiked with Tall Tales for the second half of the hike. We had been planning to night hike together to make up for the fact that we'd left at noon. I've partially been losing motivation because I've been moving so slowly on the trail. I hiked 40 miles in an 8 day time span! It's a vicious cycle, the less I hike, the less I want to hike. Tall Tales wanted to do a long day too because he's trying to catch up to his friends ahead of him so we pushed each other today. It felt good. We stopped for dinner and watched the sunset as we traversed another open ridgeline. We could look back and see everything we'd hiked that day from our kitchen window. We continued to hike into the sunset, taking breaks to climb a tree, play music or sit by the fire of a local couple camped along the trail. I was hit with a wave of exhaustion around 10:30 but we were expecting to make it to the shelter between 11 and 11:15 so we kept pushing. At 11:03pm, I noticed a flat enough spot that we decided to end our day before we made it to the shelter. We figured we were close but we were too tired to make it all the way. What a day it's been! I set up my new tent for the first time without rain and before long was fast asleep on my fairly slanted patch of land."Why are you hiking this trail?""Because it's something worth doing"