Today's miles 19.9. AT miles 1081
Today was the hottest day so far on trail. It was 11°C and 94% humidity at 6 o'clock this morning, it reached 29°C late afternoon and was still 26°C at 7pm.
Our alarm went off at 5:45am as planned, we had breakfast, oatmeal as usual followed by a couple of slices of leftover pizza. We were too full to eat the remainder last night. We were packed up and hiking by 7:15am.
Four miles down the trail we reached Deer Lick Shelters. Uff-da was there and shortly after Tree Frog came through. They shared with us our last four pieces of pizza! Thru hikers will eat anything, anytime on trail if its food and provides energy!
The trail paths were a lot better today, not so rocky, a few ups and downs, nothing major but hard work in the heat. We heard some gun shots not far from us on the trail, Nigel immediately got his orange jacket and attached it to the outside of his pack. It's not hunting season but when it is in the Fall/Autumn you're supposed to wear something bright orange to stand out so the hunters don't mistake you for an animal.
Just after 2pm we reached Caledonia State Park, a really nice park area with an outdoor pool where we stopped for a break and to air our feet. Our guide book said there was a soda machine, we were looking forward to a cold Pepsi but we couldn't find one. Everything was closed though, we're too early in the season again.
It was getting very hot so we walked just a couple more miles to Quarry Gap Shelter where we're staying for the night. A really lovely shelter, the nicest so far on the trail. Nice and clean and recently treated with urethane, today was the first day hikers were able to use the shelter since trestment so we're actually sleeping in the shelter and not our tent. The shelter was right on the trail, it looked like you were walking into someone's house and garden. There's a small stream in front, sundial, daffodils, pansies in flower hanging baskets, under cover picnic table, food box, a really pretty setting. Even the privy was clean and had air fresheners. There was a lovely couple of section hikers, Cub and Smurf from Mississippi there when we arrived. Grasshopper another section hiker and Uff-da arrived later. We had a nice evening sat around the picnic table chatting. There was even some singing on going to bed.
Tomorrow is forecast just as hot so we'll be setting the alarm clock for 5:30 again. The trees are still not in full leaf so there's not much shade from the forest yet. We need to get used to the heat and humidity, it'll get a lot hotter yet.
Just as we go to bed at dusk a whip-poor-will bird starts singing at the top of its voice right outside our shelter. These birds sleep in the day and are active at night. Eventually it moved away thankfully. Then though, during the night, we had Uff-da sharing the shelter with us, a lovely guy but he is the noisiest shelter mate. He tossed and turned all night long, his air mattress and sleeping bag were so noisy, they made real loud crinkly sounds every time he moved. I didn't get a good nights sleep!
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