7/4/12 – 1137 miles
First, I just want to say what a great time I had when Nate and Karen joined me on my hike. I think we did too many miles for our section hike – it would have been more enjoyable for them to take it easy and avoid blisters. I’m pretty sure Karen was worried about slowing me down instead of her health. A few miles either way wouldn’t have made any difference to me in the big picture and I will know better from now on. I don’t feel like I hike any differently but I guess 1000 miles of walking has given me the endurance to keep going all day.
Hiking across the Cumberland Valley was brutal. The trail skirts many fields along hedgerows and cuts straight through in the boiling sun on others. It makes you appreciate the cooling canopy of deep woods like no other time. The only saving grace is the fact that you are walking level ground and not climbing hills.
I found a new strategy yesterday for hiking in the heat. I stop about 2:00 pm and rest for about three hours, resume hiking and then stop about 6:00 and fix dinner, and continue on in the cool of the evening till just before dark, throw up my tent and go to sleep. That, or some similar variation helps me beat the heat. I will probably use early morning and late afternoon to my advantage in this mid-atlantic region.
I heard that the heat wave affecting the mid-west is moving into the east and New England. That’s probably not good news for you.