Appalachian Trail SOBO Day 82 – It’s sunny but freezing

16th october 2023
Bobblets Gap Shelter (1449.5) - Daleville (1468.1)
Daily miles: 19
Total miles: 1477

It was a nice cozy night in the shelter. No spider attacks, at least not apparent ones. My alarm went off at 6:15am but I changed it to 6:30am. 6:30 arrived and there was no movement from Lemonhope so I changed it to 7am or whenever Lemonhope started moving. Whichever one came first.

About 6:55am Lemonhope got up so I reluctantly deflated my mat and got moving. I wasn’t going to bother with anything hot then I realised I had too much water so made a hot chocolate. I saw Cal come down to the shelter, I thought it was weird that he’d come 0.2 miles off trail but he had come to use the privy. He also told us the story of how a mouse chewed a hole in his sleeping bag while he was cowboy camping last night and it was running around inside the baffle of his sleeping bag. Gross!

Then May Queen appeared. Not because she wanted to but because she thought she was on the trail. When she realised she had gone 0.2 out of her way downhill she cried. But she sat with us and had a coffee and then she was ok.

hikers sitting at a picnic table outside a shelter — Friends at the shelter

lemonhope organising his snacks — Lemonhope organising his snacks

May Queen sitting at a picnic table having a mental breakdown — May Queen having a mental breakdown

I hiked out and I could hear the others behind me and they were gaining on me as I was slowing down because my foot was hurting. I stopped to massage it. I removed the insoles again today. They waited for me and we hiked together.

a selfie of puff puff — All the layers on

There were a few pointless ups and downs so we got on the the Blue Ridge Parkway, which runs right next to the trail for about 4 miles, and we walked along that instead. We were layered up because it was so cold this morning but we walked along uphill for a while in the sun and all became far too hot so stripped down to our usual hiking layers. I changed out of my long legs and put my shorts on.

Around 50ft later we were in the shade and the wind was blowing and we were all freezing again so had to stop and put layers back on. The layers stayed on this time as it remained chilly. Back on the trail we stopped at a shelter for a lunch break and I made a hot Apple Cider to warm up.

following May Queen down the Appalachian Trail — Hiking with friends

a curved road with a clear blue sky — Looks sunny and warm, is in fact freezing

11 miles left and we hiked individually, headphones in, heads down and get to Daleville. We hadn’t seen Toe all day because she went the right way on the trail and didn’t come down to the shelter.

May Queen and Lemonhope were ahead of me and Cal was behind me. There was a fair bit of climbing to do so I was trudging my way up and I got warm enough half way up to delayer, but as soon as I was at the top I was instantly cold again and my fleece went back on. There was a lot more climbing than I had expected there to be and it was a lot steeper! But there was a nice descent the other side, great switchbacks and I absolutely flew down.

views across the tree tops — Those views

I was also feeling pretty good (although sore heavy legs which is the norm now) and I put on some show tunes and sang aloud a bit because I thought there was no one around me. Then about half way down I saw Toe ahead of me, but she hasn’t seen anyone all day, so now May Queen and Lemonhope must have got behind me somehow or passed Toe when she stopped at a shelter for lunch and they are ahead.

I walked with Toe for the next 3 miles until we got to Daleville. The weather was a bit weird. It was cold, yet it was so hot and sweaty as we were going uphill, and it was sunny but also spotting with rain.

a hiker walking across a bridge — Following Toe to town

a green path and trees in the distance — A nice grassy trail

views across the fields — Trying to beat the rain

We got to the road and walked down to the Kroger supermarket. No one else seemed to be there. We went in to get a snack but I ended up just wandering around and scoping out the resupply. There are some good options and I think it might be the best resupply yet. I came out with a chocolate milk. We sat on the picnic table and May Queen arrived (she stopped at the shelter after Toe left so that’s when I passed her). Then Lemonhope arrived (he stopped to poop so I passed him too).

railway track — Crossing the railway lines for the 846th time

a hiker walking down a road under a bridge — The town stride

We went over to the outfitter. Great shop with so many good things in it. I nearly bought some gloves, but they were $40 and that’s quite a lot for gloves, but they are waterproof and wind proof. I did buy a new gas canister. I tried on a few shoes; all very tight. I thought about buying a new spoon; a rubbery one so you can scrape the pot better. We will be coming back here in the morning to resupply. I’ll make decisions then.

We went and sat in a coffee shop and I made a plan for the next section. 4 days to the next town.

4 hikers sitting outside a supermarket — May Queen got over her mental breakdown and is happy again

Eleven came to pick us up. I had met her in 2018 on the AT, only briefly, but she is also friends with May Queen from when they both lived in Utah. She reached out to her and offered us a place to stay so she drove us to her house about 40 minutes away. The sketchiest thing we have done on this trail is squeeze 4 people into the backseat and not wear seatbelts on car journeys. This one felt particularly stupid because it was such a long drive. But we made it and didn’t die.

Eleven has a beautiful massive house with so much space. Toe and May Queen were upstairs in the guest bed and Lemonhope and Cal were on blow up beds in the basement and I was on the sofa also in the basement.

a dog staring at the camers — Dog cuddles

We showered. When I removed the KT tape I saw that the bit I had been itching a lot was red and lumpy and weird looking. The bits on the back of my leg had also turned a dark purple colour and I’m thinking that they are probably spider bites.

a red patch of infected skin on the shin of a leg — Probably infected

We did our laundry.

We had a delicious dinner of homemade yellow curry and then I found out that Eleven’s partner is a doctor so I got him to look at my bites and he said there might be a small infection in the one on the front of my leg so keep an eye on it and go to urgent care to get antibiotics if it gets any worse. Handy that he is a doctor.