Date: 2016-03-31
From: Atkins, VA - Relax Inn

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 24.1
Weather: clear sky

Today was different than envisioned many weeks ago. The picture recognizes the AT's 1/4 mark and I am happy to have gotten this far. Thank you for the supporting comments about my failure yesterday. I appreciate them all. My concern continues to be with the person I offended. Gene emphasized the importance of learning from mistakes and that's where my focus will be. Early in my career, I was told as part of an early performance review that I never make the same mistake twice, but that I do make a number of mistakes. I'll be working hard to not repeat yesterday's mistake. Today's hike is typical of the mileage that hopefully will become the new norm. To achieve this mileage requires hiking 10 or more hours per day and those hours are now reasonable given that it is light until 8:00. Blues Brother and I started out hiking together just like old times. He knew I was still bothered by last night so the conversation wasn't extensive. I dropped back and worked off some unhappiness but then Big Critter caught up to me. I met Big Critter at Woodchuck Hostel. He's a nice guy, fast hiker who is headed to graduate school. He lives in Elmhurst, Illinois so we exchanged thoughts about Chicago since I spent my junior high and high school years there in a Chicago suburb. The conversation between us flowed easily. After meeting up with Blues Brother for a lunch break, Blues Brother and Big Critter took off at a pace I can't easily manage or maintain. We had passed the 1/4 point sign a few miles before the lunch break and I think we all agreed that we were happy to be this far along. Blues Brother thought he'd be farther than this whereas Big Critter and I thought we're basically where we thought we'd be. We met up again at a shelter along the trail. Rambo, another young nice guy was there along with Meda, an Irish hiker who is hiking southbound. A few miles later I briefly spoke with Swamp Turtle who also is going south. The day was long and I tired near the end. The Chestnut Knob Shelter that we are staying in is made of concrete. Rambo speculated that they had to build such a shelter to prevent the wind from blowing it down. So 25% down. Physically I am fortunate. My feet are holding up with no blisters or pain. Parts of my feet have some hard pads on them now. My knees are pretty good too. Descents are looked forward too in order to improve my time. My left knee occasionally seems to suggest that something is wrong but it seems to work itself out each day. My back seems fine too. So physically I'm doing okay. Yesterday has me disappointed in myself. The beautiful scenery has exceeded expectations. The hiking is hard but that is self-inflicted as mileage expectations periodically are increased. Happy news today came from Subman and Suds who reported that Spirit of 76 arrived in Damascus after doing a 27 mile day. Sounds like Subman and Suds will get a bit more rest in Damascus.Thanks to all of you for sharing the highs and lows of this journey with me. Special thanks to my family for their support. I continue to miss them badly but their encouragement enables me to overcome not being at home. My ever-expanding AT bubble has exceeded expectations in terms of its size but the quality of these hikers meets the high expectations I had for them. I'll be working harder to meet what I expect of myself.