Where is the Green Tunnel?

We went from snow to 90 degree heat in a very short period of time and it takes some adjusting. It is wonderful to be able to get to camp/shelter at night and stay warm, not needing to add a lot of layers. The biggest downside to our three days of heat was the lack of shade. The leaves had yet to come out on the trees and hiking in that amount of sunlight day in and day out was tough. My water intake almost tripled and I was still dehydrated drinking throughout the night as well. With the heat and the lack of shade a new type of hiking was developed among the group of us who are hiking together this week. We get started hiking by 8:30 am. Hike until a shelter about midway or two thirds of the way through the daily mileage where we take a 2-2 1/2 hour siesta/lunch hour waiting for the world to cool. It worked really well for the heat and it helped me get a lot of reading done in War and Peace (which I am thoroughly enjoying but don't always have the energy to pull out at night).
The weather broke after three days of high heat (88-90 degrees) down to 70 and that day the leaves came out on most of the trees and with that the pollen as well. I don't have allergies so that does not bother me but my boots have turned a bit green and I can see the pieces snowing down in the breeze. I am finding pollen all over my pack, shorts, clothes and anything else exposed to the air. I genuinely feel for these hikers with allergies. With the leaves and pollen also comes the animals. I have seen multiple black snakes all longer than 2 feet, loads of lizards, baby mice all over the A.T. and deer galloping along ridge lines. Quite a few hikers have seen increased bear activity so that means hanging bags in the trees again (SIGH) and I also saw a random animal which may have been a badger.
In other news I am taking my first "zero" (meaning no mileage) on my trip. I have not slept well for over two weeks and have been feeling constantly tired. Perhaps your body is not made to hike 15-20 miles everyday for months on end. I hope the zero will help my blisters heal, give me some feeling to my toes and take away the purply-red color to the poor appendages. Overall i am still healthy and strong. I am hoping to catch up with my "group" of hikers later on this week (they all leave today).
Hopefully if my "bounce" box comes in time I can download some pictures for all these posts. Missing home a bit and seeing rain in the forecast for the next 7 days.
Really seen some spectacular views and sights this week. What a blessing for me to pray in God's creation. Amazing...how could something so beautiful be an accident? How can you not see Someone's hand in all this?

By the way, "The Green Tunnel" is what the A.T. is sometimes called due to the continual tree coverage.