More Training Hikes, Both Big and Small

Since my last entry, I have done three more training hikes. Two with full pack and another just to put some miles in and take Ginger on a long walk.

After Hurricane Irene arrived, the parks were supposedly a mess, but I needed to get back out there to see how my foot could handle multiple days of hiking.

I headed to Patapsco and hiked down from the park and ride, circled around a bit, avoiding the dead falls, got caught by the rangers, who just shooed me away and headed back to the van. It was probably just a 3 miler or so, but a good hike.

The next Saturday, September 3rd, I was itching to see if I could do some big miles. I was up at 0500 and headed to The AT near Fredrick, MD. I parked at the trail head and hit the trail at 0700. I took numerous side trails, to check out various shelters, camps and a Hostel I hope to stay at and did an out and back. My calculations were I did 18.5 miles in 9 Hrs 55 minutes. There were some breaks in there that slow the overall pace down, but I was satisfied with the progress. My foot hurt throughout, but I found out that a little rest and stretching helped a lot during the hike. It was Labor Day weekend, so I saw quite a few weekenders and had some nice chats with some of them.

This Friday, September 9th, Ginger and I headed to Patapsco to do another 5 miler. I didn't bring my full pack, but just wanted to get some more miles in. Ginger got to chase a few deer and the rain held off until we were doing our last half mile. I was soaked throughout from sweat anyway, but it was a good hike.

So this week I head to San Diego for work and I already have a hike scoped out if I get the time and then one more week in the office before I hit the AT for a Section Hike. I am ready to see what it is like.

Jefe