Date: 2018-12-03
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Calf Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 26.2
Weather: few clouds

I slept great last night going to sleep a bit later and listening to the stream right in front of the shelter. I enjoyed waking up to Foragers alarm of running water then wind chimes. I actually tried to find that sound on my phone but it is not one of the sounds my phone comes with which was a bummer. I did switch it to a better sound though.  It was much easier getting up in the warmer morning. I made breakfast and coffee and stretched.  We ended up hiking out together. The path to the next road crossing was cleared by the PATC so we were hopeful we had a cleared trail for awhile but it only lasted till the next road crossing. Once again we decided to road walk.  We walked by a crew that was parked and eating breakfast. We stopped shortly afterwords to eat and stretch. Forager stops to stretch every couple hours. He is determined to finish his thruhike even though he has problems with his foot. Stretching and massaging have kept the pain down. It¢s actually good for me too. It would be hard in the cold though but really nice today. While we are sitting there the crew drives up and stops about 25 yards from us. It was weird and annoying since I now needed to keep Rusty on a leash. About 15 mins of them watching us, one of the crew comes over to talk to us. He points out that we are sitting under a broken tree that they need to take down. So funny! We apologized and started walking. Of all the dumb things to do! As campers we had been warned plenty to be aware of your surroundings making sure never to camp under broken trees.We continued on our road walk. We got to the next shelter, 13 miles, around 12:30. We stopped there for lunch and a stretch. It was too early to stop so we decided to hike 13 miles to the next shelter. Tenting would be pretty hard to do with all the damage and really not safe with the wind. 26 miles and night hiking would be a challenge but fun too. We headed back to the road. We stopped often to stretch and eat. We ran into one a Foragers friends 50 50. They had met in VA and then seen each other numerous times on the trail. Both had had injuries and taken breaks but had continued. Once again great motivation for me. Both were finishing in less then 200 miles. 50 50 warned us that the ice storm damage was terrible all the way through to Daleville.  Ug!  We started hiking again. We put on our headlamps around 430.  We enjoyed the beautiful sunset and all the viewpoints. Once it got dark it started getting colder and both Rusty and I were ready to be done. We had to go back on the trail about a mile before the shelter. Forager was using Guthooks to determine the best spot. When we got to it there was an AT detour sign since the trail was closed around the power lines. Fortunately the detour was only a mile on a fire road and the path the clear. Once we got back on the trail we only had a 1/2 mile to go to the shelter. It was rocky but clear. We got to the spring first and filled up then headed the last bit to the shelter. We got to the shelter around 8. There were trees down all around it but the shelter had no damage. I changed into warm clothes immediately then started dinner. Forager stretched first, then set up and started dinner. Dinner was great but I got chilled so quickly got under my quilt and felt much better. It was about 10 which is probably my latest night out here. Forager continued to eat. It is really impressive how much he eats and all the different types of food he has. Fortunately for Rusty he doesn¢t mind sharing with him. Rusty really enjoys him being with us too.