We had a beautiful day of hiking following a night of poor sleep. Toe-ritis was up late at the shelter and making some serious wakeup noise by 6 am. In between, Bo chased mice and got sprayed by a skunk! Tough to sleep with that smell roaring through the tent!

As usual I hiked a number of miles alone, then joined Green One, Rockhound, Jaybird, and Burning Boots at various times during the day. We tend to meet at a shelter or campsite for lunch then hike together a bit before meeting again to camp, have dinner and hang out a bit. Gumby, Gear Guy, and Bo are camping with us again tonight.

I’m happy that my shins continue to improve. My left knee tendonitis is unpredictable but was happy for about 12 miles today. Otherwise there is just the constant pounding on my feet—never really painful, just constant soreness and fatigue.

The funniest thing is the strap tan I have on my hands my hiking poles–I’ll have to take a picture after my next shower!

Rockhound provides much of the humor during the day. He’s an engineering/geologist from PA who’s been working in NY. We make plenty of jokes about his continued sore butt and he retaliates and usually ups the ante. He’s a gifted mimic and does accents, movie roles, songs, instrumentals and even birdcalls.

Bedtime isn’t until 8:30 or so now that daylight saving time has kicked in. Daytimes temps have been in the 70’s, nights in the 40’s and its getting easier to talk, read, and write at night now that it’s light out longer and not freezing all the time!

Looking forward to walking 15 miles again tomorrow to set up a Saturday stay in Erwin…