No pain today! For the first time since the 3rd day of my hike I was able to hike without any significant pain! Sure my feet hurt—I hiked 330 miles—who cares! What a wonderful feeling! I was churning uphill, motoring down hills, took an hours worth of boot-off time during the day and still did 15 miles by 3:30, THIS IS GREAT!

I set up my tent in a pretty bad spot last night. To understand, you need to know that one of my adjustable hiking poles acts as the center support post for the tent. Well, I set up on a side slope and was slipping sideways all night. I woke up at first light like a victim of a car accident, bent around my hiking pole! Rather than trying to pack up in the tent as usual. I just chucked my stuff out the door, climbed out and did it all in the chilly 35 degree morning air. I’m set up nice and level tonight and looking forward to a good night’s sleep. All but about a mile of today’s hike was solo and it was some nice thinking time. The terrain over big bald was pretty. There are nice views from these open grassy summits. There was a lot of trail along streams and waterfalls in the afternoon as well. I’m used to hiking along flowing water in New England, but it has been largely absent down here.

Lots of hikers out today. We’re camping with Nox and Angler – a father and son duo who’ve been great company in camp. Nox is in the same scout troop as the son of Tin Man – the former thru-hiker who made my pot cozy (see my gear page) and Angler is a good friend of Tin Man. More than that, I enjoyed speaking with Angler and found his positivity infectious.

During the day, I was thinking about a series of young adult Fantasy books by Anne McCaffrey. In the Crystal Singer series, visitors to Ballybran are infected by indigenous organisms that attempt to form a symbiotic relationship with the visitors’ bodies. Among the changes are massively increased appetite, sharpened senses and an overpowering desire to be outside. Sounds like thru-hiking to me! I was infected first, but now all four appetites have soared and we are just plowing through food. Let’s see what goodies Erwin, TN provides for us to eat tomorrow!