I didn't sleep particularly well last night, and woke up rather stiff and with a scratchy throat (which started yesterday) and eyes that felt like they were bulging out of my head.
Awesome. I have a cold.
Could be worse, I suppose.
But as far as hiking goes, I just had no energy today. So downhills and flats were generally ok, but I was a slug on uphills. Which is what a significant part of today was.
About 3/4 mile in, I came across Lil' Cub, who was slackpacking and waiting for his friend who had supplies. Unfortunately, his friend was late, and Lil' Cub was out of water. Since I had plenty, due to the trail magic we received, I gave him the last of the half-liter bottles I bought at Mom's.
Shortly after, I passed Superman coming back down the trail. Seems that due to a pinched nerve, he couldn't feel one of his legs, and was walking back to a gap to get a ride out. It seems he will likely have to exit the trail as result. (His doctor was advising he not go on the hike in the first place.)
With the cold, most of the day is a blur. I don't really remember much else. Because of my cold, and Beast's bad experience with this part of the trail last year, we skipped a particularly rocky extent of the AT in favor of the "bad weather trail" that avoids that exposed part of the mountain.
Shortly before the shelter, we hit 300 miles, indicated by "300" written with rhododendron leaves on the trail. I would have taken a picture, but it was all I could do to keep moving forward.
We stopped after 11.5 miles at the Jerry Cabin Shelter, short of our 15 mile goal for the day. I probably could have made the distance, but I'd have been completely exhausted at that point, so I'm glad we didn't push further, or take the rocky portion of the trail we skipped.
This shelter has two mouse traps with mice in them, which reminds me that the shelter we stopped at for lunch yesterday had an electrical socket (not actually plugged into anything, of course).
Beast helped out in camp, getting my water for me so I could rest in the shelter. That helped a bit, I think. I was going to go back to take a photo of the 300 sign, but I decided not to expend the energy.
Tomorrow: playing by ear based on my (hopeful) recovery. We hope to go 15 miles as per the original plan, but we'll see...