Wednesday, April 29, 2009

Thomas Knob Shelter to Campsite 1.5 Miles Past Dickey Gap

Tuesday, 4/28

AT Miles = 22.7 / 513.7
Other Miles = 0.2 / 21.0
Total Miles = 22.9 / 534.7

FIVE HUNDRED MILES!

I passed the 500 mile mark today. There's a part of me that didn't really believe I'd be able to do it, but I did! 500 miles really feels like something.

I've endured fellow hikerss telling me all about the horses and the exotic cattle with the wide horns they saw in the Roan Highlands, while I hiked through there in the wwind and rain and saw nothing. Last night when I arrived at Thomas Knob the people I was camping with were telling me stories of their encounters with the ponies, while I never saw any of them. Well, last night I could hear the ponies calling and neighing to each other all night, and this morning as soon as I started walking I ran into group after group of them. They're really cool. I took a bunch of photos which I hope you'll all like whenever I can get them posted.

I planned to walk 16 miles today, stopping at Hurricane Mtn Shelter. When I got there it was kind of early and I decided to cointinue on 4 more miles to Comers Creek where I could get water and hopefully camp. When I got there the creek was in a ravine and there was no place to camp so I pushed on another 2.7 miles to where I could camp. Whew! I was beat.

I ate my dinner and crawled into bed. There was a bunch of other hikers there, all in therir early to mid-twenties. While I was lying exhausted in my hammock they were all sitting around the campfire talking about how easy it is to knock off 20 mile days and still have energy left at the end of the day! I guess the number of decades you've been arfound really does matter.

Monkeywrench
Allen Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com

2 comments:

Alex said...

Congratulations on the 500 mile mark! You're hiking at a really fast pace, it seems. I'd love to hear you discuss different pieces of gear you are using along the way, how you are using them, and how well they work, if you can spare a few sentences in your posts here and there.

Allen Freeman said...

Hey Alex, you can start with this: http://www.allenf.com/gallery2/main.php/v/AT2009/AT_Gear/