Date: 2015-07-22
From: Gifford Woods State Park

To: Route 12
Miles today: 20.2
Weather: overcast clouds

Red Panda Chubbuns is enjoying the lazy life.Is it cheating? I feel like I'm cheating.Instead of staying in a shelter or my tiny tent tonight, I am staying at Mackenzie's house. Yay! Mackenzie isn't here... she's in Cape Cod. However, the rest of her family is just as awesome as she is!Her mom picked me up from the trail and shuttled me to the grocery store for some snack purchases (big surprise, right? Who would have thought that Red Panda would want snacks....) She let me spread my wet gear all over the house, from multiple decks. She was so worried when I said that my shoes are falling apart, she offered like three times to drive me to EMS.These shoes WILL last until next week. It WILL happen. I have applied super glue AND duct tape. And I will keep my fingers crossed.Why next week?! Because Merrell is awesome and sending me a new pair. I continue to be a spoiled lazy panda. Three exuberant cheers for Merrell, and my the hope my feet have for scaling Katahdin NOT in my camp shoes!Do you know what I had for dinner tonight? Pizza. And salad. And watermelon. It's like a slice of heaven here.Also, I am clean. My clothes are clean! My tent is dry! My sleeping bag is airing out, and soon will be sent back home once I replace it with my cold weather bag (bring on the chilling, breathtaking higher elevations!)THE BEST PART?! THEY INVITED ME BACK TO STAY AGAIN TOMORROW. This is excellent. It forces me to slow down a little. Also it means a bed and a shower and delicious food.I am so freaking lucky.It kind of does feel like cheating, though. I should be in the woods, breathing the fresh air and snuggling up in my sleeping bag, swatting at mosquitoes and swizzling my SteriPen around in my water bottle (never underestimate the gift of running water!)Instead, I am like a day hiker, enjoying a bed and the comforts of a home.At the same time, I can feel myself wearing down again already, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to be clean and rest comfortably and pet this cute fuzzy cat (Fluffy). It is refreshing to be in a home. Even though it's not MY home, it is comfortable and wonderful. It makes me feel REVIVED. Hooray for kind friends and their kind families!Mackenzie, I am sorry that I am stinking up your room with my hiker funk. It will hopefully air out by the next time you visit home!There are even promises of scrambled eggs in the morning. I have died and gone to hiker heaven.And the hike today? It was long. I didn't end up shaving my legs in the morning since I knew I would have the opportunity to shower tonight (Mackenzie and I set up rendezvous plans last night right before I fell asleep), but packed up my dirty wet tent and set off.I haven't talked about poop in a while, but I have to say that I am cursed with an inconvenient digestive system lately. I eat breakfast and don't have to go until like an hour later. And by then, I am well into the hike, and the privy is miles behind me. Not cool. I hate digging holes. It never seems like I can make them deep enough! How am I supposed to know how much I am going to poop?! UGH.Also, there are so many times I think, I can make it to the next shelter! I can use a privy instead of a hole. I just have to hang on for a few more miles.NOPE. Every time, I end up dumping Gertrude and sprinting into the woods. When you have to go, you have to go. And that trail food doesn't make it easy to dig a hole fast enough. Yuck.ANYWAY, this morning, I had to stop and dig a hole. But back to the hike... the first morning miles were gorgeous. Mist rose up over the surface of Kent Pond, drifting eerily up and about. The sun, rising just above the mountains to the east, reflected off the surface of the water, blinding me so I could barely see where to place my feet on the trail.I passed by Thundering Falls, and then headed across a boardwalk, into the morning calm. My boots squeaked on the slick surface of the decking. Spiderwebs, heavy with dew, shone in the light of the rising sun. I think I saw the hint of a rainbow in the morning fog. I thought to myself, "Every morning should be like this."Then I headed up the morning mountain and became a human watering can, scattering salt water all up the trail. It was a big mountain. I am glad it was a morning climb, when I was still full of pizza and breakfast energy.It was a day of ups and downs. Mountains and mud. It wasn't as gorgeous, in middle elevations, as those copses of spruces and firs I enjoy most. But it was green and earthy and peaceful and I loved it anyway.Today, many strange thoughts passed through my head. I pondered the assignment of social security numbers. I wondered what my last words would be if I was shot (I got so deep into this thought that I nearly had tears streaming down my face until I snapped out of it... the reality of the ease with which life can end terrifies me). I thought about pizza. I wondered if Mackenzie's mom would have trouble finding me. I considered whether I should eat another snack.I think I saw moose scat! Okay... I KNOW it was moose scat because I just Googled it to be sure. That's right. Not only do I poop in the woods, I get excited when I see other poop in the woods.I WANT TO SEE A MOOSE SO BADLY. From a safe distance, anyway. Such a huge creature... I was thinking about size today. About how incredibly large a moose is. How amazing that is, that flesh and blood and bone are common to us yet we are so amazingly and incredibly different. Sometimes I think that I am so wild in the woods. But really, I'm not. I eat gross processed food. I treat my water before I drink it. I bury my poop in a 6-8" hole like I am supposed to. Even in the wild, I am "civilized".It's kind of too bad.Anyway, I hope I see a moose.Just after noon, the air began to change. The characteristic breeze picked up. A felt a drop of moisture make contact with my hand. Gertrude was thrust to the ground and wrestled into her pack cover. And then the rain started. Again, hoping to avoid the horrible chafing that occurs when my buttocks are wet, I removed my umbrella from its scabbard and twirled it over my head.When I reached Winturri Shelter, the rain had mostly stopped. I paused, unclasping my buckles and swinging Gertrude to the ground. Taking out my guidebook pages, I estimated my arrival time and sent Mackenzie's mom a message that I would be earlier than originally anticipated.Behind me, I heard what I imagined to be a giant, heavy bird taking flight out of a tree. I turned to look, and could do nothing but gape like an idiot as a large, rotten section of tree trunk, heavy with rainwater, hurtled down through the air and crashed into a mass of splinters and rot about six feet in front of me.It could have killed me!Luckily it did not. Because there wasn't anyone there to listen to the last words I rehearsed this morning.A few miles later, I broke out into the sun. I reached the little trailhead parking lot and greeted Rabbit, who was sitting and eating a tuna sandwich. As Mackenzie's mom arrived, Moosehead walked in from the farm down the road. I waved hello and goodbye as I got a mom hug (what a brave woman!) and then it was back to the real world.Mackenzie's sister, Kelsey, is considering attempting a thru someday. Her friend Emma also came over to interrogate me (not really, just ask questions, which I was happy to answer.) I wonder if a new breed of thru-hikers will crop up after the release of A Walk In The Woods.I am thankful for Mackenzie and her family! Also for pizza. And this bed. And a short day tomorrow. And I will get to see Jeralyn Friday! Things just keep getting better.I am thankful to be living this adventure still. I hate knowing that it will end.