Today was somewhat unremarkable in terms of hiking.
Got a lift out of the Anderson's after the pancake breakfast - first thing in the morning. It felt good to get back out on the trail after so much lazing. I think I had had my fill of lazing - every hiker gets to the point where they feel antsy and long to be back out on the trail, and after a full zero day... I am more than ready. Hikers who were behind us were already pouring in, and I felt the urge to start hiking, more than ever before.
Leaving Green Valley was an uphill slog, to say the least. Why is it always uphill? It's, like... always uphill. Never downhill. How is this possible?
Feeling particularly heavy, lethargic, and uncomfortable, I was slow slow slow slow slow slow slow.
Why the lethargy now? I didn't have an unreasonable amount of food. I didn't have a lot of water. It's crazy how sometimes, for no particular reason, you will feel UNBELIEVABLY STRONG, and at other times, you will feel RIDICULOUSLY SLOW AND WEAK.
Today it felt as though it was my first day out on the trail. Was it the rest? Had I not eaten the right nutrients? I was adequately hydrated, nourished, felt well in general, and was very very very well rested! It wasn't even hot. Ugh.
I pushed throught it, at the back of the pack. Angela, Ben, Starfox, Sour Cream and Focus were way up ahead of me. Focus is a friend of Starfox's from Australia. They prepared and flew over here together and have only been loosely hiking together. Today we hung out with Focus quite a bit, he's great company.
Huffing and puffing (not even high elevation!) I worked my way up the mountain with my bag full of bricks, becoming increasingly frusterated with how difficult the hiking was for me. I tried to let it go, but it was just... baffling!
I made it through.
We all made it to the Sawmill Campground in the evening and it was getting W-I-N-D-Y. Ominous weather, really, making us all very nervous.
The campground was devoid of flat, adequate camping spots. Nice. Ben and I searched for an appropriate spot for EVER. All of the flat spots were littered with glass and all of the glass-less spots were lumpy bumpy. Eventually we settled on a spot ON the dirt road in the campground, down low under the trees. We were completely sheltered from the wind and felt lucky to have such a great spot. All of the others were up above on the hills and their tents appeared to be whapping in the wind. Yikes. Has the wind already begun?
We marched over to Dr. Slosh and Smiles' camp site and gathered around their picnic table eating supper together. The sunset was stunning, purple, pink and orange puffy clouds! A stunning sunset is gorgeous... but it also indicates a change in weather... I shivered at the thought of what was to come. Rain? Is it going to rain? These were the thoughts racing through my head as I went to sleep, listening to the horrific winds in the tall trees above.
No comments:
Post a Comment