Date: 2019-06-14
From: Super 8 Daleville

To: Wilson Creek Shelter
Miles today: 11.2
Weather: clear sky

Time to leave town!! This morning I woke up feeling rough after last night. And I was feeling uncomfortable with Silver Fox. He had been very nice to let me stay in his room, but now he was creeping me out. He was using references from my Facebook to try to relate to me and flirt and I was just not interested. I¢m not limiting myself in life experiences, and I¢ll admit, I¢ve had a lot of attention and flirting from guys out here. But I was not interested in this case. Maybe it¢s because there are no girls out here, or maybe it¢s because they actually like me, but I¢ve been surprised by the attention on trail because I never really got that at home, unless I was using online dating. I kinda just wanted to move on and hike, so I told Three and Silver Fox to head out before me. Animal House was on TV as I packed up and I almost got hooked watching, but was able to leave. My food bag was pretty heavy with all the dinners and food I never ate from Pearisburg, and I packed out the alcohol that was left too. My pack was painful to pick up. But I got it on and left. It was the middle of the day, so the hottest time. But at least I was leaving. Salamander would be arriving in town today, but I needed to leave. I knew she was close now and I¢d see her soon. About a mile or so into the day, I reached 1/3 of the way! I felt accomplished. I may have only been 1/3 of the way to Maine, but that¢s more than 700 miles and it felt amazing. I needed a boost to try to get me out of these blues. It didn¢t fully work, but I felt good. It was all uphill after that to the first shelter, but I was surprised at how nice the uphill was. Maybe it was because it was after the rocks and roughness of the Triple Crown in the past few days. But it was nice and smooth, with plenty of switchbacks. I rarely like uphills, but I really didn¢t mind this one. I ran into Three and he was stopping for a smoke. It was pretty funny because the shelter was literally right after where we stopped. That always surprises me. The shelters are sometimes right there even though they feel so far away. And the trail might curve around, so you think you can¢t be seen, but realize the trail is below you too and someone might walk along. The woods feel so vast, so I¢m always surprised when I see the layout of the AT shelters and the trail itself. I was just stopping here for a break, as the next shelter was 10 out of town and that was a good distance, especially with my late leave time. Three and Silver Fox were there, Ain¢t Dead Yet, and Raisin, Tugs, and Tank Top!! I hadn¢t seen them all in a while! It was so nice to see them!! We all chatted for a while and then slowly headed out one by one. Silver Fox hung around for me, but I wanted to hike alone. I was honestly feeling so lousy. Despite the milestone today and the nice uphill, I was really just unhappy. I felt like I just couldn¢t be out here anymore. The rest of the day had several ups and downs, it was not super easy. But the terrain was not rocky, so that was nice. I passed several streams. And I ran into a section hiker named Oneida, and was so excited because she reads my blog!! I introduced myself and she immediately said that she had been following my journey and was so happy I was still out here. It was so awesome to meet someone who reads my blog! I know people at home do, but this was someone I¢d never met! She said she loves the reality of my entries. And that¢s what I¢ve tried to do for a while. I really want people to know exactly what I¢m going through out here. And some things are personal, as I know the world can be a judgmental place and I¢d prefer not to share. But for the most part, I share everything I¢m going through.I want to share my perspective about this trail through my entries too because sometimes I feel completely alone in how I feel. I¢m quite stubborn, but I do believe that the way I¢m hiking this is the way it was meant to be hiked. And I know there¢s no right or wrong out here, but I really do think this trail was meant to be enjoyed, and not all about the end goal. I honestly want to write a book about my experiences someday. I have so many thoughts and frustrations about so many things. It really frustrates me that this generation seems to be so focused on the end goal. We need to do something just for that end picture and post on social media, or for the fact that we can say we did it. Are we doing anything to actually enjoy it anymore? Or just racing through life to try to one-up each other and accomplish 10 million things just to say we did? Is it for show? Is it for enjoyment? I mean geez, we have such short lives already! I would much rather have the experiences I¢ve had out here and share those with the world rather than race through it and just say, yeah I hiked it. What will I remember more? The day I hiked 8 miles and stopped to hang out in a gorgeous meadow with some amazing folks or the day I walked 17 miles and killed my feet and mind pressuring myself to get there? What will I enjoy telling people about? I am using this blog to share my experiences, but also my opinions. And I know that there are many opinions about all that I just wrote. But these are mine. This is how I feel. This is my trail reality. Oneida was awesome and meeting her motivated me to catch up on my blog a bit. Maybe it would help me process all my recent pain too. It was uphill to the shelter and I did not enjoy this up, but once I got there it was nice. I set up my tent and got settled. Silver Fox offered to hang my food with his, and I did think that was nice, especially since mine is so heavy. The water source was very far down a hill, and I should¢ve planned ahead because there was a source before the shelter that I could¢ve filled up at. But I walked down to the shelter source anyway and filled up. The flies were irritating as I tried to filter my water, but I was efficient and took all my water back up. There was stuff in the shelter almost all night without an owner, which was kind of creepy. I sat with two hikers I had never met, Baby and Fish. Baby is 19, which is why he has that name. Fish is kind of a rude, abrupt person. He had never met me, and yet was making fun of me and throwing sass. I did not need or want that at all given my current mental state. I threw the sass back and then pretty much disengaged. Silver Fox sat next to me. I made a new Mountain House, chicken fried rice, but found that I didn¢t like it. Another one bites the dust! Oh well. I¢ve decided that the ones I don¢t like I¢ll just donate to hiker boxes or friends out here. I bought them all anyway, and although I don¢t want to waste money, I have to accept that there¢s no point carrying mountain houses that I don¢t like. And my mom can just send the ones I like, but then we have a bunch of ones I don¢t like sitting in my house for the next 25 years. And I could sell them on eBay I suppose, but I¢d rather give back to the hikers. This has been my community and my people. I worked hard to save my money and I know some people out here have much less, even though I didn¢t really make much at all when I was home. I just didn¢t spend much and was careful to save. But it¢s easy for me to buy a few Knorr sides to supplement and donate the mountain houses I don¢t like.Tonight Baby had some of my leftovers. He couldn¢t finish them though, so I went and buried them. I know, leave no trace, but I just couldn¢t eat that, and I just left town, so I wasn¢t sure when I¢d have the next trash can. I tried to snack on as many other things as I could. I had trouble fitting it all in my bag so I asked if I could put some in Silver Fox¢s bag since we were going to hang them together. He lifted the bags like they weighed nothing, but was kind of cocky about it, later texting me that I must have liked how strong he was. Again, a bit weirded out here. I was itching all night, but managed to sleep. Little Debbie