Date: 2016-06-10
From: Hot Springs (Sunnybank Inn)

To: NONE
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: few clouds

Lessons and Observations from Section Hike #2¢¢¢¢¢¢Fontana to Hot Springs, June 5-10, 2016I really enjoyed this section hike even though it was fast and slightly uncomfortable. I can suffer for a few days, but I'm not sure I'd want to thru-hike in this style, except in a drier climate.In a thru-hike, I might hike according to a time limit rather than trying to hit a certain distance every day. Unlike the Smokies, there's no reason to stay in shelters.Adding more running would decrease time on trail, which has its own way of wearing you down.A shakedown weekend or two might have helped with establishing an efficient routine.I was a layer short of thermal comfort. I should have taken a real rain/wind shell for that purpose, or traded in the 3/4-zip for a fleece shirt. That piece was only for camp since there was almost no time spent hiking in it. It's for the other 3 seasons.I never needed to carry more than 20 oz of water, but those ridgelines can be very dry, like the piece from Icewater Spring to Pecks Corner.More fat-free fig newtons instead of cereal and pretzels. They're much more calorie dense. Variety isn't necessarily the spice of life.Pack calories according to actual daily distance instead of some average. The first day should have been 4 Clif Bars and maybe 500 kcal of dried fruit and that's it. But the 27 mile day felt a little short, as did the long day. Those should have been closer to 5000.Always Be Eating! Maybe use the Garmin time alarm. I tried to eat a nice mouthful of dried fruit every half hour and wash it down with water, but not eat if water wasn't available and I was thirsty.Pack some protein powder for recovery days if vegan sources of high protein food aren't forthcoming.Bring that 52g pair of neoprene gloves.Bring a real rain hat and save the desert cap for Arizona.A 20Ah battery pack is huge overkill for a few days and my modest charging needs. My phone lasted about 3 days in airplane mode, day and night. My Garmin had to be charged every night, and on the last day I was afraid it would run out of juice during the last part of the hike, but it did not. I got this pack with the idea that it would be able to charge my camera, headlamp, and flashlight batteries on long trips without hostel stays.Since I know HTML, I spent way too much time working on this journal!Physically, I have some DOMS (delayed-onset muscle soreness) but am in surprisingly good shape. I've eaten some vegetables, clif bars, bread, and three glasses of protein powder, in addition to turmeric capsules for the systemic inflammation. Every time I get up from my chair, I feel an incredible "spring" of muscle recruitment, I suppose, that hopefully means I'm getting stronger. Joints and tendons are not any worse for wear, than they already were from previous injuries. Depending on how I feel, I think that this weekend I'm going to try hiking the entire Old Settlers Trail with just a daypack, out and back from Greenbrier, which would be about 31 miles, since I owe the piece near Cosby to my 900 Miler effort. It's an easy, flat trail with the biggest threat coming from bramble thickets in the less traveled middle part.I think that's it. I hope you enjoyed reading the journal as much as I enjoyed writing it. Although I won't get to thru-hike this trail, I was exactly where I had planned to be with a late May start at Springer, arriving in Hot Springs the day after my birthday. Standing Bear was a good place to be that day.