What kind of hiking machine have I become? I think of a 16 mile day the way that most people think of walking to the mailbox. Ho-hum. Today’s 16 mile hike was wet. It’s still wet. We’ve had thunderstorms, drizzle, sprinkle, downpour, torrential downpour, and mist. And MUDs! Don’t get me going about the MUDs (Mindless ups and downs).

Scary thing is that it was a great day! I’ve been in a good mood the whole time despite the general lack of views, flowers, and hundred dollar bills by the side of the trail. But there were cicadas. I’ve been hearing for a month how bad the cicadas are supposed to be this year. ‘Til today I hadn’t seen a single one. Now I’ve seen thousands, heard thousands, and accidentally stepped on several.

Cicadas are such evil looking creatures. They have iridescent wings, black bodies, and bright red eyes. Very cool. They emerge through holes in the soil, climb a tree/bush/plant, cling to the bottom side of a leaf and molt through their exoskeleton. They leave their brown former exoskeleton clinging where they molted and crawl/fly elsewhere making weird 70’s science fiction TV show noises. That certainly kept me entertained.

I’m hanging out with ‘The Duke of Earl’ (GA –> ME ’93) and a couple of section hikers from Ohio: Romeo & Juliette.

16 mile days make for getting into camp early. I arrived at just 4pm today. That means I get dry, eat for 3 hours, and get to go to bed before dark—good stuff!

Today’s hike took me through “The Roller Coaster”; a section of trail with 8 PUDs (Pointless Ups and Downs), each around 500 feet high. Nothing too exciting. The mud was harder to deal with than the hills.