Date: 2017-09-11
From: Pinefield shelter

To: Calf Mountain shelter
Miles today: 26.9
Weather: overcast clouds

"Marathon day!" Dirt exclaimed and then added, just in case anyone was wondering about her attitude to covering more than 26 miles, a loud "Woohoo!"The section hikers with whom we'd shared the shelter looked traumatised by this exclamation. We'd shocked them the previous evening when they asked how far we'd come that day and discovered it was rather more than their six miles. Now we were going to do more than four times as far and we seemed like we're looking forward to it.And we are. On the PCT and the CDT, I'd done marathon days within a month or so of starting the trail, as fitness kicked in, and often did a series of 30+ mile days. But like in everything else about the AT, this trail has been different and the biggest day so far -- in the rolling farmland of the Cumberland valley -- still fell short of the 26.2 miles of the regulation marathon.But the stars aligned to make that our goal today, thanks to an appropriately sited shelter, the easier trails of Shenandoah National Park and a 13-mile dry stretch that made stopping short more problematic than continuing.Not all the stars aligned, however. Last night, Sweetblood had come in limping a little from sore knees and shin splints and was worried about pushing the miles today so she diverted from the trail and came with me to the Loft Mountain wayside. For me, it was another chance to stock up on the stodgy town food that helps me hike and I was going to meet the others at the Loft Mountain store, near the camping area at the top of the hill. For Sweetblood, she took the pragmatic decision to hike the road rather than risk aggravating her niggling pains on the more strenuous trail. I wished her well and arranged to meet her halfway through the day.The others were a little saddened to hear of Sweetblood's decision but were also supportive.As we headed along the trail, I encountered a couple of hikers coming the other way and saw one had a PCT class bandana from 2016. Lobby -- short for Immortal Lobster, which was an epic trail name that had an equally epic origin story -- had indeed thru-hiked the PCT last year and now was section hiking with her friend, Trinket. It was particularly awesome to meet someone else who understood what the PCT is like and that not all trails are like the AT. It was like a secret bond, and I ended up chatting with them for close to half an hour.Even after all this time, there were still a handful of nobos coming through, although all of these now accepted they will have to flip up to Maine. Soon after my interaction with Lobby and Trinket, I saw someone of clear thru-hiker demeanour walking towards me.Bookworm had started on May 16 and had managed to hike fewer than 800 miles in a little under five months, which worked out as a very impressive 7.4 miles per day. There's nothing wrong with a leisurely pace, which probably increased the enjoyment factor, but he was adamant he'd be able to get through Pennsylvania before flipping from Delaware Water Gap. As before in similar circumstances, I tried to maintain a neutral expression and just said: "Well, good luck."The tramily met up for lunch at Black Rock shelter, which was our last water for 13 miles and roughly the halfway point for the day. Half a marathon left? No problem! And it really was pretty painless, although I adopted my usual caboose position, trailing well behind the others.I thought that this would mean no chance of seeing any bears, for which the Shenandoahs are famously replete, but I ended up seeing two within five minutes. The first was when I was walking about 200m behind Train. A truly enormous bear didn't react as Train went past but then bolted into the forest when I went past a few minutes later, which is the only way each of us realised it was there. I must be a noisy hiker. Or I'm scarier than Train?Train was a little miffed at missing the bear but then when I hiked on ahead of him, I'd barely gone a few hundred metres before another crashing sound in the undergrowth showed there'd been another bear in my vicinity. It was a yearling and was running full pelt into the forest. This time Train was really miffed because he'd missed this one too, so I suggested he hike ahead in case there was a third bear. There wasn't, of course, and instead we completed the final few miles to the shelter, which we reached just as the day transitioned into dusk. I was very glad to see the spring flowing just before reaching the shelter since we were relying on it.There was definitely a buzz among our group for taking on and achieving a task like our marathon day. It was nice to be able to bask in the glow of the experience, even if it sounded paltry by PCT and CDT standards. Life is good.AT fact of the day: Dirt's walking stick is one she's carried since Vermont, adding a ribbon for each state she completes. It even has "Dirt" enscribed into the side. It'd done nearly 1000 miles, but suddenly broke today out of the blue.