Hot and Sweaty, June 22nd

I had one of the worst nights sleep on the trail last night. I am so tired. Dirty Duck snored so bad and it kept me up. Uncle Puck also took my zquil I had set out so I wouldn't forget to take it so I ended up not taking it. I never heard back from the podiatrist in town so I decided to just hit the trail again. Taping it down overnight seemed to help. I think that everything I did yesterday to try to dig out the front of the nail just made things worse and more inflamed. I can see more of the front of the toenail. Not all of it but more than I could yesterday.

We ate breakfast at the hotel then headed over to a coffee house café in town next to the shuttle that takes us back to the trail. The café was actually really impressive. It was fully gluten free. All of their breads and pasteries were all made in house with flour alternatives. I got a chocolate chip cookie and it was really delicious! I got a drink called the Royale fog, it was an earl grey tea with honey and milk. I asked for a milk alternative and they even make those in house! I got a homemade cashew milk in my drink. It was quite delicious.

I'm kinda bummed out that I got such a late start on the day. I'm really want to start going to bed early and waking up early. I stopped in at the Denton shelter and I must say that it is one of the most nice shelters out here on the trail. It has showers, a sticker, a porch, another structure with picnic tables, flowers planted along the the sides, and a game of horse shoes.

We came up to a road that has a restaurant down the street called Apple House Restaurant. They will pick us up for free when time permits. We were able to call for a ride then a woman pulled over to offer us a ride. Dirty Duck and I took her up on her offer since we were the only ones who would fit and everyone else got a ride in the truck. I got a delicious egg sandwich, an apple cider doughnut, and drank about 3 large cups of tea. I was so thirsty, we all were. It was a ridiculously sweaty day. We were all drenched. My clothing looked like I had just climbed out of a pool at the end of the day. I just felt disgusting. Sun and Scout are ahead of us. We will all meet up in Harpers Ferry on Saturday either way.

The bugs were getting really bad at the end of the day near the shelter. They wouldn't stop going after my face, it was driving me crazy. I finally ended up breaking out my bug net while setting up my tent. The shelter here was just build. It looks like it's just been completed. All of the tools are scattered around the structure including ladders and tool boxes. I used one of the bear poles for the first time. I've been seeing them since the Shenandoahs. The best way to describe them are tall poles with hooks at the top and a long clothing rack pole to take your food bags up and down. I ended up scrapping the top of my left big toe nail along a sharp edge of a rock while trying to get the pole untangled. That really sucked.

I couldn't finish my dinner tonight. I think that it was the heat. I didn't have much of an appetite, that's really not like me. I ate way less than usual today. It's still a good amount of food. Maybe more like a normal amount of food, not hiker amounts of food. Uncle Puck finished the rest of my chicken fried rice.

It took a long time to cool off and stop sweating. It continued being hot until around 9pm when it started getting dark. It was miserable.

Tonight I made it to Dicks Dome Shelter at mile 984.9 with 1204.9 left to go.