Day 49
Start: US 19E
End: Mountaineer Shelter
Miles Hiked: 8.8
Miles on AT: 404.3
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We made it past 400 miles on the AT! Whooo! That’s so big. It feels good to have surpassed this milestone. We weren’t even expecting it when we crossed the markers. But let’s start from the beginning.
We got back on trail around 2 pm, much later than I would have liked. However, I knew that we would probably have a difficult time getting out today, so I purposefully planned for us to hike a shorter day.
Almost immediately after we stepped on the trail we were greeted by a box turtle! He was making his way across, but we startled him, forcing him into his shell of safety.
The trail was a little wet because the daily storm had just rolled in. That meant we were slipping, sliding, and squishing our way north. The heat mixed with the recently fallen rain also meant that it was super humid out. Sweat dripped down my face and no amount of wiping would make it go away. I guess we’ll have to get used to this since summer is almost here.
While we did have to climb a bit today, we were at the beginning of one of the easier sections on trail, so it wasn’t too bad. On this section we should see a lot less dramatic elevation gain and loss and the trail should be much more cruisey. I’ll take that!
Near the top of our climb today, we saw something we had only heard at night. An owl! It was massive! Janitor pointed it out; it stood perched in a tree above us, well-camouflaged against the spotted bark. Seeing the owl felt so special; they are mysterious creatures, so seeing it turn its head toward us and then silently fly away was magical.
On we continued, stopping briefly to eat a snack. After we crossed the 400 mile mark, we came to a blue blaze: Jones Falls. It was only 0.1 miles off trail so we decided to go for it. And it didn’t disappoint. At about 50 feet tall, Jones Falls was an unexpected delight.
Back on trail, we skirted the Elk River, one of the widest I’d seen on trail yet. I spotted yellow irises for the first time on trail. So beautiful!
We passed another set of falls, this time Mountaineer Falls, before reaching the shelter. A good group was already there. One of them had even started hiking around the same start date we did. I felt a bit relieved to know that while we were at the back of the bubble, there were still people hiking around us.
As usual, we set up our tent even though it was slated to rain. We don’t mind packing up a few wet things. Since we arrived a bit late, we didn’t have time for much more than dinner and camp chores. Just as we were winding down and getting in our tent, it started to rain. Luckily we’re dry and warm!
And that’s day 49.
A version of this post originally appeared on TheTrek.co.