Day 127

Camping at the ball field was nice. It helps that there is an electric outlet, water spigot and port-o-potties here. I woke up to it feeling colder than it really is. My tent was also covered in mosquitoes trying to get in. Nasty things! The bugs are definitely out! Lots of bug spray needed! Then, around 7:15 AM I saw the coolest site. I wish I had my camera ready to capture it. I was in a shady section underneath the trees on trail when all of a sudden a large owl swoops down and he’s flying right towards me and over my head. It was holding a large fish and its claws as it passed. So awesome! I had to put my sun shirt on just to put my hood up over my head. I amazingly didn’t have a lot of gnats dive bombing my eyes today. Instead, it was big flies tea bagging the back of my head. It’s enough to drive you crazy feeling them constantly tapping you in the crown of your head over and over. I’d stop and turn around and they slam into my face. I am trying a third type of bug spray but nothing is working. At least it’s keeping the mosquitoes from biting me most of the time. Anyway, I’m thrilled I hit my goal of 10 miles by noon. Shortly after that, I stopped to take my lunch where I could sit on a rock in a nice shady spot. The rest of the day was simply a push to my goal for the day. Nothing really exciting to take pictures of other than an American Flag painted on the rock at the summit if Shenandoah Mountain. It’s a memorial for 9/11. 19.08 miles later and I arrived at RPH Shelter (Ralph’s Peak Hikers’ Cabin). This was once a fully enclosed cabin but the back wall was taken out to turn it into a shelter. There’s a lot of chairs, picnic tables, jugs of water, trash can and big yard for pitching tents. The shelter itself has 6 bunks. I pitched my tent in the yard. It was a good day other than the bugs, which seems to be the norm now. A few hikers here tonight were also complaining saying it could be the bugs that chase them off trail. It won’t get me off trail but I get it. The mosquitoes are getting bad too. It sounds like we got high temps ahead of us and rain on Saturday as well. Always something. It’s definitely an adventure.