Hiking this morning felt pretty good, but I have had other things on my mind recently. Some of the hikers I have been talking to have told me of their August deadlines, to finish the trail in time for school to start. This made me think that perhaps I should go a bit faster, but also – what will I do after the trail?

In theory, living on the trail for the remainder of my life sounds best, but some other options have some appeal too. I do have some more time to think it over, but I was able to think about it more clearly than I ever have. Distance gives perspective.

After a few miles, I came across Tatiana and her father by a lake! They have me a real chocolate chip cookie, and after the pie yesterday, I feel back at home, with all the delicious baked goods. Of course, the pie recipe had to be modified a bit, with mostly peanut butter instead of butter in the crust, and the crumble topping was mostly Cocoa Puffs, but the end result was delicious.

As they hiked on, I decided to go for a swim. I hadn’t seen a lake in some time, and I thought it might make me feel at home back in Michigan. It did, as my legs turned numb as I waded out into the water. Woo! Vey cold, but I managed to knock out a shower and some laundry at the same time.

The rest of the day was hiking in the sun, one of the warmest days so far, and with the fewest solid water sources. Some people were pretty dehydrated, so I was forcing down a few extra liters. We were all pretty best when we arrived at the campsite for tonight. Sitting around the fire and horsing around helped boost morale. I’m here with Toto, Shakes(peare), Safety, and Young Gun. The big joke is “how flat” the trail has been recently. Supposedly, this stretch is the flattest on the AT, but you would never know if you didn’t overanalyze the elevation synopsis. I was either hiking uphill or downhill all day today, except when I wasn’t hiking. There was a hike off the trail to a water source that was half of a mile and a steeper incline than the trail. Ah well.

But we are close to Virginia! The town of Damascus is 29 miles away, and our plan (devised around the campfire) is to wake up at 2am and hike the 29 miles before noon, to avoid the 80 degree afternoon weather. Whether or not that happens, time will tell. And not much of it, so I must sleep.