Rocksylvania, July 10th

The cafe we had planned on eating at turned out to be closed on Mondays. I ended up walking a few miles through town to the pilot gas station for breakfast and to pick up a sandwich for lunch at the connected subway. The trail winds around town for a few miles before heading back out into the woods.

The trail was non-stop rocky throughout the day. It was brutal on my feet and it made me want to cry. It wasn't some insane rocks that I've been imagining for weeks from the rumors i've been hearing about, in fact I've experienced these rocks kind of rocks in Virginia, West Virginia, and Maryland. They are just smaller and set at awkward angles that don't allow for you to avoid stepping on them effectively.

Some of the best views on the trails are provided by powerlines

The small rocks sucked by the views were nice!

I saw a mole and a ground hog today too, they went by so fast that I couldn't get photos but it was pretty exciting. I just finished the audio book Wild by Cheryl Strayed. It's about a girl who hiked the Pacific Crest Trail, another hiking book that recently got made into a movie. It also caused a huge surge in people inspired to hike long trails.

The flies were really bad, I actually inhaled one for the second time on the trail. I coughed up a lung thanks to the thing. By the time I made camp everything hurt and I was setting up in the dusk. I could have skipped dinner from exhaustion but knew I'd regret it so I ate anyways.

Tonight I learned that moths have reflective eyes.

Tonight I'm camped at mile 1164.9 with 1024.9 left to go.