Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 52 – Another day another deli
16th September 2023
RPH Shelter (762.7) - Hemlock Springs Campsite - (785.7)
Daily miles: 23
Total miles: 793.6
I had a great nights sleep. It was a wonderful temperature so that I was cosy in my sleeping bag but not too hot, and my sleeping bad wasn’t damp when I woke up. I did have to get up in the night to pee. This is a new development that’s maybe come with age and it’s not something I like!
It was a struggle to get moving this morning because I was so snug but I had to get going. After a bar for breakfast I hiked out at 7am. I was on a mission to get the the Appalachian Market, which is on trail and has deli sandwiches, and considering I have eaten only sweets and chocolate I planned on getting food there.
Morning privy
Loving my Sambob hoody
I hiked for an hour until Lemonhope caught up to me. He leaves me behind on the uphills and then I catch him and feel like I could probably go faster on the flats and downs. We passed the 9/11 memorial flag on the top of the hill. This causes a lot of controversy; it’s graffiti, but people excuse it because it’s 9/11 related.
Another lovely bridge
Power lines
Taking in the views
The controversy of the graffiti
I needed to get water and Lemonhope went off ahead as we went up a bit of a climb. The water I stopped at was gross, it smelt really bad so I didn’t even filter it I just dumped it out. The smell was really lingering in my nostrils.
I think I must have passed Lemonhope a bit later while he was off trail having a poop. I heard some movement in the forest and it might have been him.
I passed a big group of day hikers. One of those groups who think they own the trail. No one wanted to move over! They did smell nice though. That citronella smell which was a pleasant change from the boggy water.
Views across the river
A little road walk
I passed the telephone of the wind. A telephone where people are encouraged to talk to lost loved ones.
The telephone of the wind
The telephone of the wind
There were some huge slugs on trail today and there were also a lot of bugs. Not that many mosquitoes, a couple of bites, but so many little gnats that would just fly around your head and occasionally buzz into your ears. They were really annoying and I hiked a lot flapping my hat around to wave them away.
By 11:30am I had done 10 miles so I was moving at a consistent 2.5mph pace. 9.5 miles left so I hoped to be at the market by 3:30pm.
I filtered some water from a lake outlet and gave it a sniff. It smelt ok but I added some electrolytes to it just to make it easier to drink. I was thirsty today.
Nice trail through the forest
Big slugs
Not really sure what this is about
Fresh blowdowns
The rest of the miles went by mostly without incident. I just put my head down, plugged myself in to an audio book and tried to hike consistently. The trail got a bit rocky in some places and I did a few spectacular trips but luckily remained upright. I could feel my leg, and the bruising where I fell yesterday, with every step.
I was only about 3 miles away when I felt myself start to crash. My stomach gave a very loud deep growl, so I stopped and ate a handful of Pringles to keep myself going. I had eaten a load of fudge brownie M&Ms and a whole bag of fruity liquorice throughout the day.
I arrived at the Appalachian Market at 2:50pm, ahead of schedule, and I went straight and bought a Ginger Ale, in a can because drinks in a can taste better.
The Appalachian Trail market
I lay my tent fly and groundsheet out to dry which I should have done yesterday but forgot and as we are camping tonight it will be nice to have a dry tent!
Pyro arrived about 20 minutes after me and I went in to get a sandwich. A Chicken Philly which was chicken with cheese, peppers and onions - there was supposed to my mushroom too but I think they got left out. It was a huge sandwich and almost a struggle to get through, but I persevered!
Chicken Philly
Lemonhope and May Queen arrived about an hour after I got there and Toe came in a little bit later. We all ate and tried to figure out the next few days ahead so we could get some resupply. Thankfully we only needed food for 2 days and a morning because this place is expensive. The sandwiches aren’t expensive but all the other junk that hikers eat is.
I had food left over. 2 Milky Way (Mars) bars that I hadn’t eaten, 6 mini Twix, and I’d barely touched my Pringles or Goldfish. So I didn’t buy that much. A few fig bars to have for breakfasts, lots of sweets and some cakes because they are the first ones I’ve seen where they are individually wrapped and not the whole cake. They were expensive though - $3 for a slice of processed cake!
I considered packing out another sandwich but they are never as nice the next day.
I had another Ginger Ale, I probably should have rehydrated with some water while I was there but Ginger Ale would do. I feel like I could have drunk 5 more.
I hiked out at 5:30pm which meant I had been there for 2 hours and 40 minutes! But with only 3.7 miles to the campsite there was no rush. The main reason I didn’t wait for everyone and hike together was that I needed to pee badly and the bathroom was out of order, so I went off to pee in the woods. We have been told the water near the campsite was very metallic and best not to drink it so I carried out 1.7 litres to camp - the most I’ve had to carry so far.
Boardwalk
Evening light
It was a pleasant walk, apart from the bugs; I had a huge cloud of them around my head. I passed a couple of hikers and later on Lemonhope told me they were NOBOs. They said they were going to flip up to Katahdin once they reach the Massachusetts border. Crazy that we are still seeing NOBOs.
Happy hiker
I got to the campsite at 18:45 and it’s definitely not the best campsite I’ve been to, but definitely not the worst either. And I’ve camped here before. I don’t remember there being so much glass here before! I spent a while picking glass fragments out of the dirt where I wanted to set up my tent as I was very worried about my sleep mat popping!
The sun sets around 7pm now. It’s getting dark so early. Lemonhope is in his tent. The other 3 are cowboy camping. It feels nice and warm and dry but there are a lot of ants around. I had a couple of acorns hit my tent. I very much hope this is not the night I get squashed by a falling tree.
View from camp
The trains are noisy and I can hear the traffic from the road faintly in the background. The train horns definitely aren’t background noise!
