Date: 2016-06-27
From: Pearisburg, VA

To: Ribble Trail
Miles today: 20.3

I slept SO MUCH better last night! We woke up around 6:20. Count said he wanted to "go for it," meaning hike the 19 we had thought about. I said, "Okay," even though thunderstorms were predicted for throughout the day.Our first section was on the Ribble Trail. It was through thickets of rhododendron and there were many spiderwebs. We picked up the AT after about a half mile. There were many side trails, but the AT was well marked. It was a fairly flat and easy first three miles. Then the uphill began. Near the top I was exhausted. I felt despair that we "signed u" to do two 19 mile days in a row. I ate half of my banana and had some gatorade and almost cried with frustration when Count tried to encourage me with a, "You can do it!" I told him to not say that again today. He apologized saying that he didn't realize it was annoying. I told him it usually isn't but I wanted to kill everything at that moment. The second I said it out loud, I regretted it. Poor Count. He didn't sign up for mean Applejack.Soon we reached the top of the ridge and the hiking was easier. Not as easy as yesterday, but better than that uphill. There was a horrendous section of the trail between Big Horse Gap and Sugar Run Gap. The rocks were all turned up on a diagonal and things were pretty wet. I pulled a muscle in the area of my left knee, so I was in some pain with every step. I was also developing a blister on my left foot under my big toe. I had been dealing okay with my sore right knee, but those three combined made hiking seem pretty unfun.We stopped for lunch because we could hear thunder in the distance. It was exactly noon! We ate on some rocks on the trail that we had to climb down. An hour after lunch we rested at Doc's Knob Shelter after we had gotten rained on. I took off my shoes and laid down which felt pretty good. When we started walking, my left knee no longer hurt! YES!!! It was good for at least another 2 hours. While at Doc's Knob, I looked at the register. It was then that I realized it was my sister's birthday! I tried to text her, but I had no service. Oh well. We kept hearing thunder, but hadn't had a storm over us, so I was grateful. Then something happened and my left knee hurt again. We stopped at an overlook. Soon after, clouds came in and totally obstructed our view. We stayed to rest anyway.Then came our big downhill - which was painful to both knees and blister. It was over 2,000 feet down in about 3 miles. We stopped to rest around 5:40 on a nice sitting rock, but got up when we heard THE RAIN coming. It didn't just rain. It POURED on us as a storm came through. My rain hat was instrumental in keeping my glasses mostly dry. Everything else was soaked by the time we got to the car. It poured for over 40 minutes. We saw an extremely muddy, raging waterfall. Also, the trail had turned into a mini river. It was actually kind of nice for my feet to be cooled down from the rain.After we got to the car, we drove to Wal Mart (3rd time in as many days). It was air conditioned and since I was soaked, I was freezing!When we got back to our tent, I was shivering so badly I could barely put my dry clothes on. I was really glad I put the tent over the tarp this morning. No leaks and no worries about leaks. Then I cooked supper in Steven's open trunk to keep dry. Couldn't have done that in my car! Success at two 19 mile days in a row, though my body is worse for wear. I also have a blood blister under my pinkie toenail. It is 9:47. Good night!