Today was more like what I envisioned when I thought about Shenandoah. 20.6 mile day, over 4500 feet, but I barely broke a sweat, and my feet barely touched rock all day. Really getting on a roll with the early morning starts which is awesome – on the trail by 7:30 makes for some comfortably cool miles.
Overcast skies kept the temperature under control all day, but nothing other than 20 miles of zoned-out hiking nothing happened today. Strider, Jupiter, and I are the only ones at Bearfence tonight. Just two days ago there were 15+ people at the hut, but other than us three they either did 20+ miles on both days, or they did the less than 14 miles each day to the closest shelter. So we’re kind of in the middle of two mini-bubbles now. I guess the most exciting part of the day was hitting up another campstore late in the day. This one had a microwave and a microwavable calzone and cold drinks as well as stuff for breakfast tomorrow. Passed the 900 mile mark this morning, looking forward to 1k and the unnoficial halfway point at Harper’s Ferry.