Date: 2004-05-19
From: Dick's Dome Shelter

To: Bear's Den Hostel
Miles today: 18.9
Weather: overcast clouds

I woke up at 6:15 today to find that all my gear (and myself) had slid over to the left side of the tent. Ah, the joys of a non-level tentsite.I ate and packed up in my tent, and when I got out of my tent at about 7 I found that the shelter had already emptied-- apparently, they all wanted an early start. Squish, Skyline, and Sundance, on the other hand, were all still in their tents, and still were when I started off down the trail.Apparently sometime late yesterday we entered the habitat of the cicada. I saw none up until today, but this morning I found 3 on my tent, and as I walk they are absolutely everywhere. Their humming creates a permanent, constant background noise eerily reminiscent of a 1950's sci-fi serial. They look like aliens, too, with their bright red eyes.The only thing more abundant than cicadas is poison ivy. I walk through field after field of it-- at first, I walk carefully to avoid brushing it, but eventually that becomes impossible-- there is so much poison ivy hanging down in front of the trail that I just sigh and begin charging through it at full speed.The humidity is one hundred percent, but at least it's overcast and relatively cool. It starts to rain before too long, but the rain is mercifully light, and it continues to rain on and off throughout the day.The humidity, the bugs, and the poison ivy make for some bad walking. Mentally, I'm pretty low at the moment-- in part due to the hiking conditions, but also because I miss home. I'm also hiking without a hiking partner for the first time in, well, several hundred miles. I'm not used to hiking on my own like this. Scorpion and I didn't usually hike with each other, but we were still hiking partners-- we always went to the same shelter, and made our plans for the next few days together. For now, though, I am on my own-- truly hiking my own hike, and making plans only for myself. This is something that I had sort of had a desire to do (for a little while, at least), but it still makes me feel kind of lonely.Squish catches up to me at lunch, and we talk-- I like talking to him, because he's the sort of person who likes to talk about deeper stuff. Why we're out on the trail, what we hope to find here, and various topics that spin off from that, for example. We hike together most of the afternoon, and our conversation ranges from family to social etiquette to our plans for the future. It was a good conversation.Squish is staying at a shelter at the 16-mile mark, so I leave him behind and keep going. We're in the midst of a section of trail called "The Rollercoaster," so called for its constant ups and downs. It's also pretty rocky, and so while talking with Squish helped the trail go by faster, the last 3 miles absolutely drag. I reach the state where my mind exhausted, but I am still somehow hiking-- I focus on one step at a time, and finally make it to the Bear's Den Hostel.Two hostels in three nights-- I guess I'm living it up right now, but this hostel is famed as one of the best on the trail, so I didn't want to miss out. Plus, I'm wet (both from rain and sweat) and covered in poison ivy. At this point, I'll pay whatever it takes for a shower and clean clothes.