Date: 2003-07-21
From: Rausch Gap Shelter

To: 501 Shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: broken clouds

weather: sunny until 6:30, then thunderstorms and tornado warnings temp: High 70's, night low 60's Song of the day: We didn't Start the Fire I think I've had a taste of doing "big" mile days back to back and I'm hopefully done with them. My body is wearing down from the lack of nutritious foods and the stress of hiking. I don't feel as strong as I did a month ago and I can really tell the difference when I been in town for a few days when I've had good food.   I am usually able get up and moving by 6:30, but this morning it was difficult. I didn't want to get out of my tent. The one thing that got me motivated to get up was that my hips were sore from sleeping on my side and I couldn't take it any more. I have been thinking about geting a new, thicker sleeping pad now that I have lost some of the extra "padding" that I started the trail with.Today's hike ended up being a bit of a struggle for me. I wasn't thinking about getting off the trail like I did yesterday. I was just tired and had the general feeling of being rundown, which is why I probably wrote what I did above. Maybe the daily stress is starting to catch up to me. My body is screaming for another zero day, but I know I shouldn't take too many more. I am afraid that the weather will turn bad the closer I get to Katahdin and I will have a higher chance of not being able to summit. This journal entry sounds like I'm being a bit pesimistic today, but I thought that I needed to write about some of the things I have been thinking about verses things that have happened during the day. I have been really thankful of the friendship that has been developing between the members of the All Girl Gang. It has been very helpful to talk things out with someone who knows what has been going on verses someone who, although very cool, is in and out of your "trail life." I admit that I have been thinking a lot about my friends back home, thinking about how it's nice to have a sense of "history" with them. I havn't had that feeling out here on the trail until we formed the AGG. Sometimes I have the brief feeling that I am missing out on whatever is going on back home,that I am missing out on my circle of friends "history." They will have stories to tell me when I get back home about things that went on while I was gone, I'm sure but it won't be the same as being there. And I'll have stories to tell them as well, but they won't be as meaningful to them because they won't know the people I am talking about and don't have the emotional attachment to them that I have. It will be very strange when I won't see some of my trail friends daily after I am home. These will be the friends that I will have known for the last six months of my life, spending so much time getting to know when no one else in my pre-trail life will get a chance to meet them as we all live in differnt parts of the country. What will I talk about when I go home? All we talk about out here seems to consist of food, gear, and miles. How do you think my friend will react if the first thing out of my mouth is "So how many miles are you doing today?" Out on the trail, no big deal, but the confusion it would cause at home is fun to think abot. Miles to where? Work? The grocrery store? The gym? Or would I just get a strange look from people back home. It will be neat to see what will happen. Before I ramble on any more then I already have, I will stop this entry before it gets too much longer. Tonight at the shelter are Flatlander, Foxie, Double A, The Littlest Hobo, Siderwinder, Gray Matter, Viking, Zoots and several others who I can't remember right now or don't know very well.