Date: 2017-05-22
From: Sam's Gap, US 23, I-26

To: Spivey Gap, US 19 W
Miles today: 13.4
Weather: overcast clouds

We are back on the trail after a two-day break to attend Trail Days in Damascus, VA.  My feet feel amazingly better - enough so that I notice how my knees feel now (not great).  There were many interesting presentations, but the event I liked best was the Baptist Church's washing and massaging of feet.  There were about 10 volunteers who dealt with a steady stream of hikers.  The service was free, with only mild proselytizing.  The weather forecast today was for  thunderstorms clearing in early afternoon. So Warren didn't rush to get us to the trail.  We were going over Big Bald today, a large open area that would not be a good place to be during an electrical storm.  We arrived back at Sam's Gap and started hiking around 10:40.  By the time I got to Big Bald about 180 degrees of the view was clear; the rest, to the west, was still clouded over.  Nonetheless, we got a wonderful view.  The rest of the hike was uneventful.  This was the first day that I've hiked alone.  Lizzie had spent the night at a friend's house in Asheville and was to meet us at 10:30.  She arrived early and thought she had missed us, so she started hiking about 20 minutes before we started.  I was never able to catch up with her.  She's going to spend several more nights at her friend's house (likely rainy nights), so I may be alone more this week.  Terri took all her gear home with her on Friday and informed Warren that she was staying home for a while to rest her knee.  I fear she may decide not to come back.One of the people who signed the guest book asked whether that was a bruise she saw in a picture of me.  The answer is yes.  All of us are bruised, abraded, or injured in some way.  It's part of the process of hiking.  The day I got the horsefly bite I realized that I had contusions or injuries on both legs, both arms, both hands, and one of my feet.  This is normal for the trail, I think.  One of my more colorful falls came while hiking in perfect weather on an easy trail. A tree had fallen across the trail.  Instead of cutting out the part of the tree that obstructed the trail, the maintainers cut a notch into the tree, making a sort of step.  I saw Terri step carefully over the log and decided I'd use the step instead. While I was thinking this I tripped with my left leg.  Realizing that I was going down, I grabbed for the edge of the notch/step.  This caused me to do a complete somersault.  I landed in a patch of stinging nettle with my head partially wedged underneath the rest of he dead tree.  I was on my back with my pack on, so I could hardly move.  Then I started laughing.  I was like an overturned turtle trying to move using my arms and legs but weighed down by my shell/pack.  If Terri hadn't been there to help me right myself it would have taken me a long time to get up.  Once I was up I sat on the step for a moment to assess whether I had injuries.  I looked down on my pants and saw blood on my left leg.  Then I noticed that I had a small cut on my left forearm.  I got out my little first aid kit to clean and bandage the cut.  In the meantime though Terri noticed the blood on my pants and insisted that I pour water on it immediately to keep the pants from staining. Only after that was done did I clean the cut and put on a bandaid.  Fortunately for me I didn't have that much skin contact with the stinging nettle, so I was relatively unscathed.Just a few days ago Bill had his first fall.  I've fallen a bunch of times, including once today on stepping stones across a creek.  I've concluded that my bones are strong because they haven't broken in these falls.  Arlene fell twice today on some slippery wood steps at the Appalachian Folk School but also is fine. Anyway, we are a conglomeration of injuries that so far haven't held us back.  It's all normal.Our schedule for the next two weeks is ambitious.  Tomorrow we are hiking 19.5 miles to Indian Grave Gap and the day after tomorrow 21.1 miles to Hughes Gap.  In all we have six days in the next two weeks with hikes more than 20 miles long.  I think I'm ready.  I've been working on trying to keep a steady consistent pace uphill and down.  Today my speed was 1.75 miles per hour.  I want to be able to hike this fast or faster so that I have more time to stop and see the sights along the way.