Tue Jun 3, 2014 @ 20:00

Day 65 - Rice Field Shelter to Bailey Gap Shelter

16.5 miles

Slept in a wee bit this morning, started hiking just before 8:00 am.

It was a nice morning walking on the ridge, easy terrain.

Fog and mist rolled in, followed by rain. Took a break at a trail crossing with Tuna, Connecticut Girl, David Bowie and 2 more people whose names I've forgotten. It was fun to be with people, which was surprising to me since I was SO done with people after Pearisburg.

Enjoyed another break at Pine Swamp Branch Shelter, chatted with Smooth D, shared his avocado.

Shortly after this shelter we passed The Captain's, a renowned trail stop, just across the stream from the AT. You take a zip line to cross the stream and arrive in The Captain's yard, where you are welcome to pitch a tent for the night. We missed the annual Hiker Feed by a few days, hosted 2 weeks after trail days.

After this we had a long, steep climb to Bailey Gap Shelter, where we are camped tonight.

It was a long hiking day, but ok. We listened to music for hours and no one was particularly low today. And earlier, while we were walking through the fog, the kids reminisced for what seemed like hours about their early childhood. Listening to them I thought, "these kids have had a good childhood". Something I need to be reminded of on this intense (sometimes grueling) family adventure. It was a happy mother moment.

@toesalad and I talked about future possibilities of traveling and adventure with base camp and how to set up our lives to support this. This was a fun, lighthearted, and optimistic conversation unlike some of the heavy and hard conversations of last week.

There are more days of rain forecasted but none at camp tonight.