Today was generally a mixed bag. We woke up to rain and so we delayed breaking down camp. Finally got on the trail around 10 am and it was windy and a lot colder than it should have been.
The first climb of the day left us on a ridge that was best described as “rock soup”. Even colder and windier on the ridgeline. Even though the rain had stopped I spent the day in my rain gear to cut the the wind and stay warm.
Appropriately for the day so far, we crossed “Wind Rock” – which lived up to its name. After that we dropped over the leeward side of the mountain and lost some elevation. Almost immediately it warmed up and became a pleasant day, the next few miles went fairly smoothly.
The next climb was again rocky and steep. At the top of Kelly Knob, the view wasn’t one of the most epic but I had enough service to get news from the Tramily. Prairie Dog is the first of us to permanently leave the trail. He’d had problems with alcohol before the trail and felt like he was falling into similar habits on the trail. I’m sad to see him go, but it’s a smart decision and I hope he gets the help he needs.
El Dorado left Pearisburg today and did ~32 miles, so he’s only ~6 miles behind me. I expect he’ll either wander into camp late or he’ll catch me tomorrow. The rest of the troop caught a ride back to Damascus already, which means they’ll be doing nearly a week of 0 miles – it’ll take them forever to catch up after Trail Days.
I made camp around 7 pm and set up my still soaking wet tent to dry out a bit before I put all the gear in it. There were 4 other people I hadn’t met yet at the campsite; Bumble Bee, Tribute, Amazon, Dynamite. We sat around a fire to warm up and have dinner. The overnight lows are in the 30s yet again, I’ll need to sleep with my water filter and bundle up – really hoping it warms up soon.
Day 61 Mileage: 18.3 mi [Dismal Branch -> House Ruins ]
Total Mileage: 684.4 mi