Date: 2003-09-02
From: U.S. 4, Killington, VT

To: The Lookout
Miles today: 17.5

Today was very difficult for me, both emotionally and physically. I needed to jump ahead in miles so that I could make it to Hanover by Thursday, when my Seester will pick me up to bring me home for the weekend. This meant that I would have to split up with Tumbling Grace and Randy, with whom I've been hiking for the last two and a half months. They have really come to mean a lot to me, and I don't know how I will do hiking on my own. I mean, I know I'll be fine, I jut know that I will miss being a part of that hiking "team". Taking three days off means I may not be able to catch up with them. It also means a lot of hikers will be ahead of me...I don't know who still remains behind at this point. I hope there is someone to hike the Whites with. I got up early and hitched a ride in to the post office...even this was something I hadn't done on my own before, but I got a ride pretty quickly. I met Deacon Blues, Little Bear and Taba there. Taba had spent the night in t!he lobby of the post office, as it is a 24-hour facility (for residents to access their boxes). I had some coffee and picked up my maildrop, then Deacon Blues and I hitched a ride back to the Inn. We went to the dining room for breakfast, which was included in the price of the room. I had a broccoli and cheddar omelette with toast and home fries...very yummy. When we were finished, I went upstairs to sort through my box and pack up my backpack. Tumbling Grace and Randy still needed to go to the grocery store to resupply, and I needed to get going to make some miles. I said very tearful goodbyes, and went out to the road to hitch a ride back to the Trail. The terrain today was quite physically demanding, which was good, as it helped to take my mind off of things. I still spent a good part of the hike crying...I've always hated saying goodbye. I got to the base of the first big climb, and met up with Slack, Emily, Double A and Free Radical. They were planning on goi!ng to a shelter 5 miles beyond where I was planning on camping. I knew I couldn't keep up with them, but figured I'd see them at some point along the day. I told them about a cabin at a lookout 2.5 miles before the shelter they were headed to, not that I was thinking I could get there. They headed uphill, and I followed them a few minutes later. It felt like forever getting up the mountain...it was a very steep, long up. I was extremely happy to get to the top, where I found the crew taking a break. They had decided to just go to the cabin, not the shelter. I continued to leapfrog with them up the Trail...we stopped at the first shelter and ate. I started thinking that I might join them at the cabin...I was keeping pace with them, anyway. We had about 7 more miles to go to the cabin, and 2 1/2 hours of light left. We stopped to get water at the place I had planned to stay...I chose to join them, as I thought I'd be better off being with people that night, and I still felt fine to continue hiking. We ended up coming into the cabin at! about 8:15, having to night hike for about 45 minutes. Snot Rocket, Circus and Chief were there. We set up our sleeping stuff, and I had some dinner while the others had snacks. I ended up being the last person to go to sleep...stayed up journaling till 10:30. It was a good day's hike...despite the emotional baggage I was carrying. I'll be trying for another big day tomorrow...