I forced myself to stay awake

It seems that when ever I tent, no matter what the weather forcast is, it always rains. Last night was no exception.

I was restless this morning. I woke up at 4:45AM and decided to continue reading "Winterdance" by Gary Paulson. At 5:30AM I decided I was just going to start getting ready for the day earlier than usual.

By the time I finished packing up and cursing mother nature, it was time to hit trail. It was 6:37AM, and I was wet and miserable.

The walk from the shelter to Stony Creek was wet and rocky, the theme for the day. When I got to Stony Creek, the bridge was out. I knew this ahead of time, but being the hardcore Mainer that I am, I decided not to use the detour and instead for the creek.

The creek was 15-20 feet wide, and roughly one foot deep. I had a couple of near misses, but I made it across in one piece without falling in and continued my journey northward.

The climb up to "Wind Rock" was indeed rocky. All these rocks were quite slippery as well, making for a trecherous ascent as well as descent.

I then meandered my way to War Spur Shelter, where I took my lunch break. I felt like I could take a nap, but I forced myself to stay awake.

Just before the final approach to the top of Kelly's Knon, at Virginia route 630, I came across trail magic. A man by the name of Super Dave left a cooler with Cola and Orange Soda. It significantly raised my low morale. Thank you Super Dave!

I spent the vast majority of my day listening to music. I am quite confident I would have lost my mind if I did not have music today. At 4:00PM I turned to NPR and listened to "All Things Considered" to catch up on the news of the day.

My home for tonight is Laurel Creek Shelter. As of today I have walked 200 miles in Virginia. I do believe a physco analysis needs to be done of anyone who has declared Virginia "easy" or "flat", it is neither thus far.

I think I shall eat dinner and continue to read my book.

Kirby

Ga>ME 2008.