Date: 2017-06-15
From: Daleville, US 220

To: Bearwallow Gap, VA 43
Miles today: 21.6

The day started with a group meeting at 5:30 AM.  Warren is going to be gone for three weeks starting tomorrow.  The meeting was to clarify how things will run while he's gone and to recruit one or more of the hikers to serve as the van driver.  Arlene was not in the running because she's the slowest hiker; I was not in the running because my broken wrist precludes my moving the 5-gallon water containers around.  In the end Rennie and Bill agreed to split the duties, and Lizzie and Patti agreed to help as needed.  I volunteered to hike with Arlene today.  One principle of our group is that the person who's last doesn't hike alone.  Bill has been hiking with Arlene all the time, and I thought this would give him a break and allow him to finish earlier. (Ironically, he finished about half an hour after us because he took a wrong turn.)  I set a pace of about one and three-quarters of a mile per hour.  This is my normal pace, and I thought Arlene would be able to keep up.  Also, I didn't want to be tempted to go faster: I want to preserve my pain-free knees for a while longer after my rest. I noticed when I hiked with Arlene and Bill yesterday that they take a lot of short breaks.  I hoped to get Arlene to finish earlier by setting a steady pace and limiting breaks to multipurpose ones.  The beginning of the hike took us through a farmer's field.  It was cloudy/foggy, so visibility was limited.  It felt strange, as though we were in a fairy tale.  We took our first break at Fullhart Knob Shelter,  about 5 miles into the hike.  In keeping with our multipurpose goal, we used the privy, ate snacks, drank water, texted/emailed, took our shoes off briefly, and socialized with the couple who was staying at the shelter.  Sherlock and Darwin started on March 9 - about 7 weeks ahead of our group - and are behind us as of the end of today.Arlene has been having a lot of foot pain, part of what keeps her moving slowly. Our whole group has hiked about 120 miles in Maryland and Pennsylvania. Only Rennie is going to rehike these miles.  The rest of us will have 6 days off - to rest, hike ahead, or go home.  Arlene is thinking of going to Philadelphia for the break to try to get some shoes that don't hurt her feet.  I remembered that I know a hiker who lives in that part of the state.  I texted Robin and asked whether she or any of her hiker friends could recommend a sports podiatrist who could see Arlene during the week of the break.  As soon as I sent the text I lost cell service, so I don't know whether she can help or not.We decided to do a break at lunchtime and soak our feet in a cold stream.  I was hoping that this might help Arlene's feet.  We got too hungry to wait for an appropriate stream, however, so we sat on a log and ate lunch.  Then at the next stream we filled our water bottles and soaked our feet.  This was very refreshing, and we continued on in somewhat better shape. We continued hiking from one landmark to the next.  Late in the afternoon we reached the Blueridge Parkway at mile 97.  The AT stays near the parkway for about 100 miles, mostly parallel to the road either higher or lower than the road.  The main scenic views are at pulloffs for cars.  The trail crisscrosses the parkway at these locations.  The views were nice, indeed.  The weather forecast was for rain, with chances fairly low until noon then gradually increasing.  We hoped to get as far as we could before the rain started.  At one viewpoint the sky in the southwest and northwest showed rain. Even the view to the East showed rain.  Fortunately, we managed to hike in places that didn't get hit by rain.  We started hearing thunder around 4 o'clock, but the storms didn't seem close.  We managed to outrun the rain for the reminder of the hike, which we finished at 7:30.  We also got our tents set up before the rain started.  There's been intermittent rain since  8:00.  I hope it stops early enough in the night that our tents will dry out overnight.We continue to see lots of wildflowers, not whole hillsides of them but small clusters.  In addition to the ones I didn't know I saw daisies, wild roses, fire pinks, Deptford pinks, yarrow, trumpet creeper, and a cream and pink-colored vetch that I've never seen before.  Susan M, who hiked partway with us yesterday, says I need to include the butterflies I see.  Unfortunately, I haven't learned many butterflies, so I won't be adding them on this trip. Tomorrow is another long day, with rain predicted.  Here's hoping we get lucky on the timing of the rain again.