Date: 2015-05-11
From: Rock Spring Hut

To: Pass Mountain Shelter
Miles today: 15.3
Weather: scattered clouds

Well, today was something. I'll start in chronological order.We had received multiple warnings over the past few days about an accrobatic racoon living at the Rock Spring Shelter. The thieving animal managed to climb the bear-proof poles on which we hook our food bags and he has been stealing food on a nightly basis. Fresh Ground's food bag, a few days earlier, was the unfortunate target of said racoon - the bag was found partially ripped apart in the morning! In order to prepare for the racoon, we decided to throw a bear line. Shrugs found a perfect tree - the food bag was a few feet from the tree, hanging 3 feet under the branch and over 10 feet from the ground.We woke up in the morning to the sight of the most rotund racoon I have ever seen precariously hanging from our swaying food bags. We started yelling at it and it relunctantly hoisted itself up the rope and (almost gracefully) leaped off the branch. It made a hole in the bag and managed to thread a whole loaf of bread through it. That's a lot of calories! (We never carry bread; instead we opt for more "squish-able" food items like tortillas or pitas. The wayside campstore only had bread so we got that, but I am not sad to have parted ways with the loaf of bread). I was a bit miffed at the racoon and annoyed at our powerlessness to prevent its nightly snacking. The rope we use is thick, so the racoon could get a good grip. Other than that, I think that racoon could outsmart any "animal-proof" contraption.The night was otherwise restless. There were more deer roaming around the tent. We had become used to the sound of the deer steps - light and in rather quick sucession. There was another intruder that was making heavy, slow, muffled steps. We poked our heads out of the shelter and saw it was just another deer. Maybe it was just a clumsier deer.After all this, we woke up tired. Shrugs got startled by a millipede that was trying to get into the tent. Ever since he found one in his boot, Shrugs had developped a mild millipede phobia. We packed our stuff up and, as we were almost ready to leave, Shrugs suddenly jerked and threw his shoe. A millipede was trying to get into his shoe! "I am getting really tired of all this wildlife" said a defeated Shrugs. I understand, my friend.We hiked for a while and around 5 miles into the day, we arrived at the Skyland resort which has a restaurant. Shrugs bolted towards the dining room. I asked him, somewhat mockingly, didn't he say that he didn't want to eat at the waysides anymore, as they were too expensive? He responded quite seriously that this was a proper restaurant, so it wasn't the same. I was satisfied with this reasoning so we went in for a second breakfast. It was expensive but really tasty. I had real, freshly baked pastries (an apple danish, a chocolate croissant, a blueberry scone and a chocolate-nut cookie) and Shrugs had a full stack of buckwheat pancakes with a symbolic portion of fruit that had cost him an additional 2$. Oh well! I only hope that our terrible body odor wasn't too off-putting for the other patrons...I thought the day was going great...until I rolled my ankle. I did not fall nor did I hear a popping sound (the ankle stirrup I wear undoubtedly prevented any further damage). Still, there was a sharp pain for a few seconds and my ankle swelled up slightly. I knew this could happen. The rolling occured when I attempted to descent a tall rock. I try to consciously lead with my left foot, but my now-injured right foot seems to be my preferred side, so it's difficult to modify my gait, the same way it is awkward and unconfortable for my left-handed self to write with my right hand. I guess my foot landed on a uneven surface and, even if I felt that I was treading cautiously and slowly, my weakened ankle was unable to handle the weight.I popped an ibuprofen and a hydrocodone for the pain, but I think the biggest wound was to my morale. It had been 10 days since the initial injury and I felt that the healing process was going smoothly; this sets it back. It's kinda crushing. For the next couple of hours, I hiked nervously, hyper-aware of every small twang of pain, slight stretching sensation or crackling sound. I was increasingly filled with great lassitude. One must accept the numerous discomforts and unpleasant experiences inherent to any thru-hiking trip, but to face pain, injury and, above all, a constant fear that a single misplaced foot may put an end the whole endeavour was slightly more than I bargained for. Anxiety wears you down.We stopped for a while at a pinic area, unsure what to do. Do we cut the day short or aim for the planned 15ish miles? The pain was negligible, so we pushed on and, thankfully, we made it without any further incident. We even saw a cute bunny hopping along the Trail, my reward for completing the day.The shelter was empty when we arrived (though many people showed up later on). We have had enough of sleeping among the noisy, disruptful wildlife so we decided to try our luck in the shelter for the night. In the end, I am glad we did because it rained hard during the night.- Axon