Today is the moment of truth. It’s barely two weeks into the journey so a 35 mile day today is a little bit of a risk. If I ramp up mileage too quickly then I run the risk of injury. Having the option of stopping after 28 miles takes the risk away.

I wake up at 5:00 and start my morning activities on time, but I’m moving a little slow this morning and don’t get out till about 6:15. This is still an acceptable time to leave, so no harm.

The morning walking is mostly through meadows. Meadows mean grass. And grass in the morning means dew. And 4 hours worth of dew means soaking wet feet. In fact my feet were soaking wet within the first 5 minutes. This is part of hiking in the east.

What I didn’t factor in to the equation is the terrain of the hiking today. Everything has been roads or paths or meadows with a few little hills thrown in here and there. But today is downright hilly. The hardwood vegetation with rocks and roots on the trail and the grade of it make me feel like I am hiking in Virginia on the Appalachian Trail. The climbs are not as high but it is definitely not level travel for quite a bit of it. This is going to impact my schedule for today. I am shooting for the distributed camp area which is the last place to camp before the road walk into Janesville.

My first target for the day is a visitor center which I should reach before lunch time. They are reported to have bathrooms water and if there is staff there is probably food or drink you can buy. That ends up being the case and I buy a small Gatorade because the day is getting quite hot. The grass is mostly dry now so I decide to switch into dry socks while I am there with a bench to sit on. It’s not quite time for lunch yet but I grab a small snack, too.

I reached the horse camp right around noon which was my original day to camping spot. But with my accelerated schedule it’s now a lunch spot. There are two other hikers there just leaving as I arrive. They are the first overnight hikers I have seen on this trip so far. One of them is a girl about to graduate from the University of Wisconsin who plans to start the Appalachian Trail from Trail Days in Damascus next year. She is out for a week this year as practice. Good for her.

I eat my lunch and refill my water bottles from their water spigot. They have running water here but only pit toilets. There is supposed to be a shower here but I don’t readily see it and it’s kind of an on time to take a shower anyway. So after my lunch is done I move on. And just as I am leaving another overnight hiker shows up to stop for his lunch. This is the most hikers I have seen in one day.

The terrain is becoming a factor in my schedule. It’s amazing how much the section feels like Virginia. Instead of doing 3 miles an hour I’m doing closer to two and a half. That may not sound like a big difference but after 12 hours it’s a huge difference. It means I won’t be able to do 35 today but 28 is definitely probable.

I go ahead and book two nights at the hotel in Janesville, and a campsite in the state park where I will end up tonight after 28 miles. I selected the campsite that is adjacent to the trail to minimize the amount of extra walking. The schedule is set it is etched in stone. Now I can hike the rest of the afternoon knowing exactly what my targets are.

I would see a fourth hiker pass me while I was eating my afternoon snack. For overnight hikers in one day and it’s not even the weekend, well not seeing any other overnight hikers the entire trip. What an odd day.

I arrive at the campground at about 7:00 p.m. which is essentially right on time. I will have an hour and a half to set up camp clean up a little bit collect water and cook my dinner.

The campsite is huge compared to my small tent. It is a sight that could fit a 40 ft trailer but I’m only taking up three feet of it. I am also in a small grassy patch behind a tree so it looks like my campsite is empty other than the few items I leave on the picnic table to dry out or at least air out overnight.

Water in this campground is from spigots one at each end of the loop. The water must come out at 120 PSI cuz it’s nearly impossible to hold a water bottle under the flow. There are only pit toilets and no showers. The lake is too far away so I will just use my handkerchief to clean myself tonight.

While the water is plentiful, it is disgusting. It tastes and smells like diesel fuel. There is an artesian well 2 mi into the hike in the morning so I will only collect enough to cook my dinner tonight and have a small bit for the two mile hike in the morning. This water is far worse than the iron tasting water from the hand pumps a few days ago. If the lake weren’t so far I probably would have just filtered water from the lake instead.

The campground is mostly empty. The only other campers that are even within eyesight are in the spot right next to me. I bet they think it is weird that I’m in a big campsite with just a small tent. Whereas they have a pop-up trailer and three vehicles. I only have two vehicles – my left vehicle and my right vehicle, both size 12, made by Saloman.

Emotion of the day, Calm

Today would determine when I would reach Janesville. Would it be 3:00 in the afternoon,or 6:00 in the evening? Either way I’m still reaching Janesville tomorrow. What time really doesn’t matter after all since I’m taking the day after that off so I don’t have to do any chores tomorrow night.

While I would have liked to have done 35 today, the terrain just wouldn’t allow it. Doing a 35-mile day on the Appalachian Trail would have to be exceedingly flat terrain. There are a few places where you can do it but Virginia-like terrain is not one of those places.

Even though I didn’t make the final call till after lunch, I still didn’t feel pressured. I actually felt sleepy about 9:00 in the morning and thought about taking a nap on the side of the trail. I must not feel too much pressure if I am deciding if I should take a nap in the morning.

Being able to make the hotel reservations for both nights without any issues was a relief. The Holiday Inn Express in the last town was plan B because plan A had filled up at some point during the day. I prioritize Marriott over IHG over choice purely based on the number of points I have with each group.

Making a reservation at the State Park campground also gave a huge amount of calm. Trying to find a campsite in some random forest that you’re not familiar with is always hit and miss. Much of this area is private land where you can’t camp. And much of the public land is so heavily vegetated you couldn’t possibly squeeze a tent in anywhere. Having a reserved campsite means all of that stress completely evaporates.

Even though I was pushing from the beginning of the day, I never felt pressured. And as the day progressed I felt calmer and calmer. Even if I had showed up at the campsite an hour after dark, there would still have been very little pressure. The campsite was there. The campsite was mine. No worries.