Today, after a wonderful first 14 miles of walking, a thunderstorm caught me and soaked me. The sun emerged 15 minutes after I arrived at the shelter. I am not surprised, just wet. But what the heck, the morning walk was amongst fog and wet trees was awesome. The sun beams coming through the trees disguised the rocks perfectly and many twisted ankles and knees were enjoyed by all.

The back corners of shelters bend reality. It is 7pm in June now and it’s real, real, dark. I’ve been using my headlamp for 1.5 hours, but when I walk outside to bush my teeth, I am blinded. I guess this makes it easy to get lots of sleep.

Tomorrow will be 17+ miles to the 501 shelter. I am still with Hoplite, Wings & Feather, Kinloch, Packrat, Mad German, Chris, Anna, Beau and Optimus. Five miles before the end of tomorrow’s hike , we cross another big milestone—there will be less than 1000 miles to go.

I figure I will be in Vermont by the end of the month and finish August 8th if all goes well.