Julie and I are hiking the Appalachian Trail in the US from Springer Mt, Georgia, to Mt Katahdin, Maine, in the north, a distance of almost 2,200 miles (3,540 km). Our journey will start in early May 2023 and is expected to take about five months. We will be mostly camping, carrying 3-5 days of supplies to get us between resupply points, where we will be staying in hostels/hotels/motels where we can. I hiked the entire Appalachian Trail back in 1986 so it will be interesting to see how much has changed and how much it has stayed the same.

Appalachian Trail - Day 037 - Marion Day Off

Day: 037

Date: Wednesday, 31 May 2023

Start:  Mount Rogers National Recreation Area HQ (AT Mile 534.3) but staying in Marion

Finish:  Mount Rogers National Recreation Area HQ (AT Mile 534.3) but staying in Marion 

Daily Kilometres:  0

GPX Track:  Click here for Julie’s Strava & Photos from her walk/run at Marion.

Total Kilometres:  902.4

Weather:  Warm and mostly sunny.

Accommodation:  Motel 

Nutrition:

  Breakfast:  McDonald's big breakfast 

  Lunch:  Ham & cheese roll/Chicken salad 

  Dinner:  Chicken chimichangas/Chicken fajitas, peach pie & rice pudding.

Aches:  Dave - feet recovering; Julie - nothing to report.

Highlight:  None really.

Lowlight:  None really.

Pictures: No photos today.

Map and Position: Click here for Google Map

Journal:

We had a sleep in after a relatively late night and then a relaxing no-pressure day.

The only place within 0.5 miles we could find for breakfast was a Macca's but, as it turned out, it wasn't bad and we might even go back for breakfast there tomorrow before we hit the trail.

Then we spent time in the nearby Walmart and supermarket buying our supplies for the next 4-5 days before Julie continued on to the laundromat and Dave returned to our room.

We are further refining our gear and are mailing to our next town some replacement boots for Dave (his are old and the sole is starting to separate from the upper) and replacement running shoes for Julie (she will get rid of her boots - they have a hole in them - and hike in running shoes instead).

During the afternoon while Dave put his feet up, hoping his foot wounds will heal, and did some admin, Julie went for a walk/run at a nearby lake.

For dinner, we visited a recommended nearby Mexican restaurant and were not disappointed.

We'll be back on the trail tomorrow, catching a local bus service back to the trailhead and, based on our (Dave's) improved fitness and lighter pack loads after discarding some gear four days ago in Damascus, we are setting a slightly more aggressive schedule.  We feel like we are getting in the groove and are almost 25% done.

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