Miles: 668.4 | Summer arrives all at once, with high heat and heavy sweat making every mile feel harder than expected. We hike mostly apart, fueled by stories and quiet focus, meeting Sailor Pete—on his third thru-hike attempt—at a spring along the way. By the time I reach War Spur Shelter, I’m drained, overheated, and struggling with my new shoes. An early stop feels like the right call. We wash salty clothes in the stream, chat with familiar faces as they trickle into camp, and turn in early, grateful to rest before another hot day ahead.
We got up early and were out by 8:15am. We hiked separately for most of the day. I listened to a couple of stories on Levar Burton Reads. We stopped at a spring to fill up and met a guy named Sailor Pete, out for his third try for a thru-hike at 60+ years old. He was pretty cool and offered us good luck. It was VERY hot this day. High eighties. It’s like we got to Pearisburg in early spring and when we left town it was suddenly summer. We drenched in sweat all day. My compression shorts started to itch from all of the salt they had absorbed.
By the time I got to War Spur Shelter I was pooped. Miles was there when I arrived, drinking an energy drink. We sat there looking at each other, deliriously. I stretched for a few minutes and sat down at the picnic table with him. “How would you feel about stopping here?” I got excited, I didn’t think he’d want to stop so early. I knew I could make it further but I just didn’t really feel like it. I was tired and hot and these new shoes were really inhibiting me. We agreed to stop early.
We set up camp and I went down to the stream nearby. I used my food bag and some Sea to Summit soap sheets to clean some of my clothes a bit. I hung them to dry on my trekking poles. We ended up chatting with Chomper and Steamboat. Rick James showed up to camp eventually along with Sailor Pete.
After dinner we went to bed early.