Tortoise Hiking

All right, it’s May 31st, and I’m alone at a campsite, sitting at the picnic table, and just waiting for my Mountain House chicken tikka masala to finish steeping. And I’m at the Seeley-Woodworth Memorial shelter off of mile 824.6, I believe.

I did just shy of 16 miles today, so over the past two days, I've done just about 36 miles, which is pretty good for me. Another interesting note about today is that I was just 46 feet short of a 5,000-foot day, meaning that over the course of the day, I had 5,000 feet of elevation gain, which I don't think I've done before. I was actually a little bit surprised to learn that it amounted to that much.

This morning, I woke up at Brown Mountain Creek Shelter after an okay night's sleep. It got quite chilly in the evening, and I'm just not prepped for that right now. I’m hoping tonight is not as cold as last night. But anyway, I guess my appetite is back, because for breakfast, I ate an entire bag of granola mixed with Carnation Instant Breakfast and some powdered milk, which is actually a really great way to start the day. I think all told, it’s about 1,500 calories and 63 grams of protein.

I'm glad I ate it, too, because as soon as I left the campsite, there was a little bit of flat trail, and then it went straight up for the next four miles, which is where most of the elevation gain happened. So, I’d read on the Far Out app that lots of people had found the final two miles of the climb to be particularly challenging. There were also a lot of false peaks. Someone actually remarked on Far Out that they now have trust issues because of all the false peaks. Eventually, though, I made it, and that was the majority of the climb for the day. The rest of the hike was just kind of walking along a ridge — you know, down, up, down, up. So that's generally what accounted for the 5,000 feet, or, I guess, the 4,954 feet. I kind of feel like I should go climb a tree or something just to get the full 5,000 for the day.

A lot of hikers — excluding me — are gearing up to hike The Priest, which is a pretty good climb, and then do the enormous dissent to the Tye River, followed by a massive climb up to Three Ridges. So people are sort of strategically trying to figure out the best camping options so they can maximize their day tomorrow. Since I'm getting picked up tomorrow, I don’t have to worry about that. This seemed like a great place to stop, and it is — barring all the bugs. No one else is here right now. But then, it's only 6:10, so things could still change, I guess.

Today wasn't a very eventful day. I got a lot of really pretty views, I went up onto a bald, which I love, and I generally saw the same people out on the trail who were at the campsite last night. And a quick side note about that. While I was hiking up a particularly challenging section this morning, four other hikers who are a lot younger than me just sort of whizzed by me. And when I got to the top, they were all there, resting, so I passed them. And then a little later, they came whizzing by me again on the way down. One of the guys was practically running. But then, a couple hours later, I caught back up with them again. And then they passed me another time, but when they were getting water, I caught up with them again.

So you know, I take breaks, too, but I think they just sort of sprint in between longer breaks. I'm incapable of sprinting, but it's nice to know that this sort of tortoise-and-the-hare style of hiking ultimately gets us to the same place in the end. I talked to them for a little bit, and they're gearing up to do The Priest and Three Ridges tomorrow, so they're trying to make up a few more miles today, which is why they're not camping here tonight.

The last several miles were pretty uneventful. I actually took out my iPod and listened to some podcasts, which was a nice way to sort of wander through the woods. And now, I'm here, waiting for my meal to rehydrate. As soon as I'm done eating, I’ll hit my tent, because the bugs are really coming out in force. And since I'm the only one here, there aren’t any  other victims to feast on, so I'm getting undue attention from them.

I’m really looking forward to tomorrow. I get to go to The Priest, and S. has asked me to look in the logbook at the shelter there, because at the Priest shelter, the tradition is to confess your thru-hiking sins. So, she asked me to look for some of the hikers she’s been following on YouTube, which should be fun.

Tomorrow's hike is only a little over 11 miles, with just a fraction of the climbs, because I'm basically halfway up The Priest already. And then I get to go home! This time, I am feeling much, much better than the last time. So, I'm looking forward to having some nice meals with S., and I’m looking forward to drinking some beer. Let's hope that feeling continues. I don't see any reason why it wouldn't.

Also, S. is going to help me slack pack the remaining miles to get me to Rockfish Gap, which is sort of a big milestone for me, because Rockfish Gap is the closest spot on the AT to our home. So to me, it's kind of symbolic. I've got two more days, and then I’ll have officially “walked home” from Georgia, which is a neat feeling.