skyline trail east of rt 138

skyline trail east of rt 138
Originally uploaded by wereldmuis.

Today's hike: 3 h | 5 mi | 1.6 mph

Mileage is highly approximate, since I'm not sure exactly where I turned back.

I started out at around 8 am at the Rt 138 parking lot, right where the Skyline Trail crosses the road. I followed the north section of the Skyline Trail. It took about 1.25 h to get to Headquarters Path. I crossed that and kept walking, turning around about 15 minutes later. There were practically no bugs around (did they spray or something?) but a good number of people out, as usual. The Skyline Trail is pretty popular.

The plan was to do a solid 3 h training hike, and it went well. I carried a backpack, but it wasn't heavily loaded. My feet hardly bothered me at all; no blisters. I'm guessing I climbed 1000 feet or so, going up and down all the small hills along that route. My knees didn't bother me at all, and I maintained pretty good energy up till about 2.5 hours, when the humidity started to get to me.

This is where I get a hankering for a GPS device so I'd know exactly how much mileage I put in, my pace, and the elevation change.

I feel like I'm behind schedule a bit. Last June at this point I'd already done a 4-hour hike. In 2008, by this time, I was already up to 6 hours. *Sigh!*