Day 55

Another cold, wet, rainy and windy day on the ol’ AT. I woke up to hail pounding my tent. Considering the night I had, I stayed wrapped up until well after 9am. After packing up in the rain, I finally got going. The rain took a break for most of the day but the howling winds were constant, which kept me very cold. I was hiking today with all of my layers on. There were some SOBO section hikers at the TN/VA border and they were kind enough to snap a picture of me by the sign. Goodbye, TN! Hello VA! This is the longest State on the AT so I’ll be here a while. Something like 25% of the AT is in VA? I expect plenty of rain (please just be warmer!!!) and lots of the green tunnel. I hear the tough part about VA is the mental game so I’m keeping myself prepared for it. I kept it a short day today and set up camp just a little over 2 miles from Damascus. I was hoping for no more rain and to let my tent dry out but it’s 5pm right now and raining again. It’s supposed to get below freezing tonight so should make for another morning of freezing fingers while packing up a frozen, wet tent. At least I’m set up to have a full day in Damascus, known as the friendliest hiker town there is.