Date: 2016-05-16
From: Deer Lick Shelter

To: Quarry Gap Shelter
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: clear sky

Omg, what a day!!! It was exhausting and hard, relaxing and so much fun! Brandon and I started out on the trail together this morning. There was no rain and the weather was nice. There were some big climbs where we ran into Reese and his dad and we all hiked together. About an hour or so into our hike, Polar Bear passes us and asks if we were planning on heading to the bar that's coming up in a couple miles. Brandon and I both looked at each other and knew we had to reroute to get some beers! The books, and the lady at the post office confirmed that it was only .9 miles away from the trail, but it was definitely at least half a mile more!! My feet were in so much pain that I was on the verge of tears by the time I reached the post office. I mailed off some of my stuff to drop weight, although it's not much. But it included my selfie stick, mini bible, my sleeping bag compression sack (bc I like my osprey one better and I didn't know till I got here that my bag came with one), my standing up pee funnel (sorry Aimee!), and my travel bidet (sorry Aubree!). I just don't have the balls to test out and try those last 2 things out here on the trail. Esp since its been so cold. After the post office, I walked up to the bar and enjoyed a great meal (bacon cheeseburger and fries) with Brandon and Reese. I found out from the guest book that Polar Bear is also from Springfield, VA and even went to the same school as my little brother! Such a small world!Reese ended up heading back to the trail early to meet up with his dad and push on to the next shelter. Brandon and I stayed back to play pool, drink a few more beers, and take it easy because we knew we only had a few more miles to get to our next shelter. I think we stayed there for like 3 or so hours before we hit the road to head back to the trail around 3:30pm. I guess the beers had us feeling great bc by the time we got to the shelter we decided we could definitely keep going. We ran into a man taking care of the trail and he was really nice and told us we could stealth camp at a spot about 2 miles down the trail. He also gave us some homemade wooden spoons - we found out later that he's trail famous.. Lucky us!! So we decided to go for those 2 extra miles... And then we decided we were so close to the Caledonia State Park that we could make it to the next shelter after resting there for a bit. We got to the park and my feet were killing me by then as usual. I took off my boots and stood in the water for about 5 min to help with the swelling. Then I went back to the bench and elevated them on my bag. This is when Brandon double checked our book and realized we still had 2.6 miles to get to the next shelter and not 1! I could've died! It was getting late and we haven't night hiked yet, so I put my shoes back on without taping up my feet and we got back on the trail. A little ways down we come up to the AT going up a hill. It's marked with a sign and at the very bottom right in black and white there's a zig zagging upward arrow and writing below stating the this part of the trail was "most difficult"!! We laughed so hard at the site of it and swallowed our dread and fears and kept pushing on step by step. I was about to cry while laughing at the same time. We did not want to push these extra miles! We eventually got there right before dark. There was room in the shelter for one more and I took the spot while Brandon put up his tent in front of the picnic table under the shelter. I took off my shoes and I lost my pinky toe nail. I was too exhausted to do anything but admire how beautiful and quaint Quarry Gap Shelter was and then pass out. It was a 17.8 mile day for us, it sucked but was awesome and I wouldn't take it back! I really enjoyed the bar in town and running in to the wooden spoon man.Follow my SNOG for better updates and pics. Snapchat username: saylind.vettloRemember who you are!