June 11, 2009 evening

Update...

This past Monday our hikers stayed at the Clyde Smith shelter. On Tuesday, after Chris caught the bug, they stayed at the Stan Murray shelter after a 11.2 mile day.
On Wednesday night, after they had hiked 19.7 miles, they stayed at Mountaineer Falls shelter. Thursday night should find them in Wautaga Lake Shelter. They spoke to me after having hiked 12 miles. They intended to marathon 26.3 miles today.

Some highlights: Jack and Chris chased a skunk for about 10 minutes. Thankfully, they did not get close enough for attack. Jack saw a baby copperhead snake...poisonous of course. They saw wild horses at the end of North Carolina portion of the trail. They saw views from the super-open Hump Mountains. Their hardest rainfall was this morning. They are now in Tennessee, with hopes of being in Damascus, Virginia by Saturday afternoon.

They report they no longer experience physical problems, pain, or soreness in their legs or feet at the end of the day. In fact, their feet remain pain-free until they have hiked in the upper-20 miles/day range. AS for their stomach reactions, our hikers have decided to lower the dosage of purifier tablets used in the purification of drinking water.

At the next town, Jack and Chris will view this blog and make corrections, additions, and/or deletions.