Date: 2015-05-31
From: Stealth Camp on Fork Mountain

To: Marble Springs Campsite
Miles today: 19.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was going to be a tough day. And somehow I ended up with 19 miles. Go figure.It's getting light so early now, and we're still 3 weeks away from the longest day. I swear I'll be out of camp before 6:45 one of these days.As I mentioned yesterday, we were going to down to 1200 feet and then up to 4000 feet but of course there were some downs in between as well. The weather was very cooperative today, it wasn't too hot and often there was a breeze.The first and second uphill were finished in short order and after the third I reached the second shelter of the day. Good Enough was there taking a break. I was now 7 miles in and it was too early for lunch so I figured I would just find a nice spot somewhere. I had found earlier that I had lost all interest in candy bars. That's a bit of a problem as a lot of my daily calories come from Snickers, Cliff, Builder and other bars but apparently I have reached my threshold. Only Luna bars remain appealing, probably because I haven't had them as much.Shortly after the shelter there was an overlook 200 ft off the trail, there was my lunch spot!The biggest climb of all the sub-climbs came right after but it too was not quite as bad as expected. At the top of this one, called Apple Orchard Mountain, is an FAA tower that looks like something out of a 1970s sci-fi movie. It was starting to rumble in the distance but I felt safe in the knowledge that surely an FAA tower would have a lightning rod. Right?Just a short way down was the Guillotine, one of those rocks stuck between two walls that looks like it could fall any second. I scurried underneath thinking of Aron Ralston...I had two alternatives as my end location today, but I came up with a third one on the way. The first was a camp site at about 15.something miles, that supposedly had a spring. I didn't investigate very closely but the spring seemed dry and besides, I was hoping to get a little further than 15 miles anyway. The second option was this camp site 3.9 further, but it would involve yet another uphill, followed by the inevitable downhill that is so hard on tired feet. And I wasn't altogether sure I wanted to go another 4 miles either.I decided to hedge my bets and get water at the next spring, so that I could stay in any stealth site might come across, and make it at least another mile to the next gap. Gaps are usually good possible camp sites. I found one, but it was very close to the (gravel) road and close enough to the parkway that you could hear all the traffic. But it was very well hidden from view and clearly an established site. As I sat there pondering, Good Enough and later Gunner walked by. They didn't think that one more uphill was such a big deal in the scheme of things (it's not) so here I came. It's a large site and there are a bunch of people here: Dr Pickles and Mockingbird, McFly, Justin and Jesse the beagle, Javier, Gunner and when it was getting dark Running Boy showed up. He just came from Daleville yesterday afternoon. Same place I started 3 days ago. Craziness! I hadn't seen him since well before trail days and thought he'd be in Harpers Ferry by now.Tomorrow I will resupply and do the usual town chores in Glasgow. I was going to stay overnight since the town very hospitably provides a free tenting area with hot showers and a privy. But my long day today means I only have 7.5 mile to the road to Glasgow, so I'll probably just come back. With a bit of luck, 842.5 on Friday is still a go!Open map in new windowWant to add a map to your journal?