Date: 2015-04-23
From: Daleville

To: Bobblet's Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: light snow

I woke up about 6.30am, and went down to the free breakfast after 7am. The breakfast would probably be pretty depressing for people who aren't hikers, but set me up well for the day. I noticed that almost all of the male hikers went to Supercuts and got a haircut (some of them got a shave too). I left the hotel before 9am, and then immediately spent ages waiting to try and cross the 4 lane road to get to the AT. The weather was beautiful and sunny, but there were some very strong winds all day that made things a bit chilly. It was a wonderful day for hiking, and the small stretch that we covered today was particularly gorgeous. The trail went through the woods, and then a small field with cows, then back into the mountains. The trail also crossed over the Blue Ridge Parkway, which is a nice roadway that meets with the AT for the next 100 miles. In a strange twist of fate, I walked into Smashers girlfriends dad on the Blue Ridge Parkway. He is doing a road trip on a motorbike down to Florida and just managed to miss meeting Smasher, who is about a days hike ahead. My ankle was very painful to start with today. It was difficult to move. The pain and strange feeling in my ankle seemed to spread half way up calf. I stopped to take some ibuprofen, and I had to take some more at lunchtime. It was the only way that I was able to walk. I am going to see what will happen tomorrow. Tonight I am also taking some sleeping pills in the hope that I can sleep properly. America is a place where you can find a pill to fix every ailment. (Apart from blisters...)I stopped for lunch about 1.30 at a shelter. For this leg, I have cookies and creme spread instead of Nutella. It actually has more calories and tastes pretty good. The privy at that shelter was also notable for having cleaning products.I spent the whole day listening to podcasts again. It really does make a huge difference in making hiking easier and feel much faster. Sometimes it feels like time has slowed down completely, especially when I know exactly how many hours of hiking I have left. It's also difficult when I want to eat a snack every hour, but I'm hungry every 10 minutes. I arrived at the shelter about 4.30, and I was quite confused. I wasn't expecting to arrive for another hour or so, since I thought the distance was further today. The shelter is quite a small one, and there is a large group of hikers here. I managed to snag a space because I got here fairly early, which was lucky because there are no good camping spots here. The wind is also picking up, and the temperature is expected to drop quite a bit tonight. This shelter has some excellent features though- it is right next to a spring, and the privy is a very solid wooden building. I'm still surprised when I see a privy with actual walls and a roof. The privy here is definitely strong enough to hide in from bears. (I think about this sometimes.) Tomorrow, the plan is to hike about 23 miles. I hope the good weather can hold out a bit longer. I also saw a snake and a lizard today. The snake was right on the trail, and scared the life out of me. I'm extremely glad that these are not poisonous snakes. Stealth also said that he has found some ticks, which means I will have to start checking every inch of my body just in case.