Today was miserable. If I could have sat down and just quit I would have. I pushed on anyway. I am camped about a mile short of the next shelter, just before a steep climb. I think I’ll take it easy tomorrow and stay there. I had a late start this morning as I got up about 9-10 as usual.
I did laundry in the creek and hung it to dry, but it took forever. I ended up having to hang my socks on the daisy chain of my pack to finish drying. I left anyway even though it was 1pm, because I wanted to move on.
The hike didn’t look too bad in the profile, but about 1.5mi of it was all rocks. There was no real trail and scrambling over rocks is slow and hard. The worst part that really put me over the edge is all the lousy flying bugs. I have been swarmed incessantly by the evil little things for two days now. I think they are mostly winged ants, but there is a good mix with lots of gnats. I really want it to cool off enough to kill all the worthless things, even though it means I would be shivering in my sleeping bag.
It was hot out today – mid/high 80s and I was constantly baked by the sun on the trail. No clouds, no trees, no respite. Probably even got sun burned. I had heard repeatedly that it was not possible here during this time of year. It is supposed to be 60s and cloudy for the most part.
I am camped on a ridge near a couple of locals from Statesboro who work at a Mellow Mushroom pizza place. I met them earlier at Blood Mountain shelter, but do not remember their names. I am low on water at a little less than 1L so I did not cook dinner. Instead I ate a Clif Mojo bar and some of my ginormous bag of trail mix. I hope I have enough water left to get through the steep climb up Blue Mountain without too much agony.