Date: 2016-05-30
From: Massie Gap

To: Creek Junction Station
Miles today: 17.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Today we went back to Grayson highlands state park to do the section that we had originally planned to do on Saturday. He did the first four miles in just over an hour (it took three on Saturday) and continued along at a good pace. The views were still great. He wore American flag shorts in honor of Memorial Day and got lots of compliments along the trail. The exciting part of the day was that we hit 500 miles today! How many people walk 500 miles in a year? Probably everyone with functioning legs, it turns out. Well, it turns out according to some random and probably poorly documented study that Google led us to, in American where we are from, the average person (assuming you aren't Amish and if you are shame on you for using the Internet) takes about 5200 steps per day. With a stride length somewhere between 2 and 3 feet, this means most of us are walking less than 3 miles a day, or less than a thousand miles a year. Think a thousand miles is a lot? Do your own googling, America is way behind the bar here compared with other countries. Most researches recommend at least 5 miles a day (hence 10000 steps). Also, you may not be anywhere near the average. Averages are tricky- all those healthy people in Colorado and California are making up for the slack of us Texans for example. Living in one of the "fattest" cities in America (measured by the ratio of restaurants to parks- with over 3000 restaurants in our metropolitan area, we can eat out every day at different restaurant for about 10 years!!!), the average may be lower regionally and will definitely be influenced by demographics such as your age and occupation. And it's not entirely our fault. Our society is setup with dispersed infrastructure catering to automobile transportation almost exclusively in all but the most urban areas. This doesn't really lend itself to walking to work and the grocery store for most people for example. But if we could, we would have cleaner air, more time to enjoy each other, and better health. What is one to do? Conventional wisdom says go get a fit bit and get your steps in. But that may not be the right answer. Sitting all day and then getting lots of steps at once probably isn't equivalent to being somewhat active all day. Plus, you still have to spend all the time driving from one place to the next. If you then try to get steps in at the end of the day, you'll have even less time to spend with loved ones. And that is what you call a tangent... Back to the hike, he saw a baby pony laying on the ground. He was a bit alarmed and verified it was breathing. He later learned that it is normal for them to lay down in that fashion. Meanwhile, she went back to Damascus for another coffee and sand which. She picked up a few luxury items as well such as a lantern for our sprawling camp. He finished in decent time as it was mostly downhill (he started near the high point) and they met up as planned despite having poor cell phone signals throughout the day. unfortunately, his blister was growing rather than shrinking. We decided to try to exchange his shoes. We bought them together at Cabelas a couple of weeks earlier in an attempt to give him a trail runner option. However, with all the long days, his feet had swelled and no longer fit I them well. They say you need to buy a size larger than normal. He proved this to be true. Thank you Cabelas for your awesome return policy. While heading there they saw a moose! Not on the trail, but under an overpass holding a sign saying at thru hiker needs ride to Nasheville. Whoa! We "banged a u.e." (Made a u-turn) and picked him up. Apparently he had some business to take care of. Ironically, he is the one who once told us that 'you'll never know if someone quits the trail, you just won't see them anymore and the trail will feel less crowded.' We caught up on lots of trail gossip (one guy we knew stole a car and ended up in jail, another quit, giggles is not far, etc.), fed him a "healthy" serving of key lime pie, and said our farewells. We hope he gets back on the trail but wish him the best either way.