I made it into the Troutville Super 8 motel this afternoon. I'm feeling really beat and down today. I did way too many miles yesterday, and I'm still feeling it today. My feet are bruised and hurting. The trail was really rough. There were lots rocks and scrambling. Most of the last two days were on ridge tops. Ridge tops often involve scrambling up and around rocks and boulders.It rained most of the day, which made walking even more difficult and dangerous. I fell and broke another hiking pole today. The trail would often go up and over boulders. On dry days, this is ok. On wet days like today, this is scary and dangerous.
I've seen very few people on the trail the last two days. I met Hike On after McKafee Knob. I know him from before Pearisburg. Apparently he was about a half hour to an hour in front of me all day yesterday. He camped a couple miles after I stopped. He too said he saw no one on the trail yesterday. We both had a problem with getting enough water on the ridge tops.
I'm going to zero tomorrow. I need to rest and gain weight. I don't think I can possibly eat enough when doing mileage like yesterday. I think I've been burning more calories each day than if I were running a marathon every day.
I just ate my first dinner tonight. I went to the Mexican restaurant next to the motel. Dinner with a plate of nachos did not fill me. This feels more like an appetizer than dinner. I will wait an hour or two and order a pizza.
Hiking alone the last couple days was tough. I haven't yet heard how Thought Foot is doing.
Someone told me today that you can tell what animal is looking at you in the dark by the color of the reflected light. Bears are supposed to ha
ve re
d eyes in the dark. Paul, is this true?
4 comments:
The answers I am seeing seem to say that you cannot tell what kind of animal you are looking at by its eyeshine color....rather, that the distance of the light source and angle of reflection can change the color of eyeshine in any animals eyes....Still other websites claim its reliable....keep in mind that 99% of the creatures on earth seem to reflect either red or greenish eyeshine....thus dont know how that would be a good identification tool.
Additionally, on one website where (mistakenly i believe) they claim to list the animal species eyeshine colors....bears are listed as green....
please describe in depth the eyeshine you saw....I would think a bear would be obvious....I would think you would hear a bear breathing etc...if it were staring at you a few yards away....
And for the record, Chupacabra has redish eyeshine....
I still plot your progress on Google earth daily, and it's really awsome how far you have gone....And now, with you talking of how the number of hikers on the trail has thinned out to where you saw only one person today...that is a true testiment to your accomplishment....
I know you said that the point of the trail is not completing it....but still, you must consider that there is a something to be said for going further than most can....and it seems like thats what you are doing..
You can tell if it's a bear by it's bite. Most likely it was a raccoon or skunk. It's common for those critters to be curious. I've woken up and found a skunk crawling about my feet. Wait, that was the banshee! My mistake.
Hope you find some interesting folk to talk to while you're zeroing. You really are covering some ground. Me, I walk all day and keep ending up where I started.
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