Date: 2019-06-18
From: Cornelius Creek Shelter

To: Thunder Hill Shelter
Miles today: 5.3
Weather: overcast clouds

The last of these short days before town. The heat was horrible again today and Cali and I again left too late. I was enjoying being with her because she¢s very similar to me and I like No Rush and Rachel too, but we were both having a hard time. We saw Slow Poke and we asked if he was a thru-hiker and he said ¢I ain¢t thru yet!¢ True that! He saw the mouse nest, which I hadn¢t noticed until now, and he said he was going to move it. For some reason, Cali couldn¢t deal with that and she flipped out. I wanted him to move it because mice are gross, but I tried to stay out of it. Cali threw her pot on the ground she was so angry. To be honest, as much as I really like Cali, it felt a little immature. She was really exploding and he wasn¢t even harming the mice, just moving the nest. I¢ve put so much work into changing how I react and handle situations and it was almost like I was seeing my old self, flipping out. When my blood boils like that I have gotten better at calming myself down and I was trying to calm Cali, but she just took her pack and went.Slow Poke moved the nest when she was gone. I couldn¢t have cared less if he killed the mice. Mice are full of disease and they¢re in a home that was made for humans out in nature. Yes this is nature, meant for the mice, but it¢s also a shelter made for humans. It¢s our home too. I hate mice and seeing that one run across the floor grossed me out last night. I didn¢t understand Cali¢s reaction, but I supported her side and knew that she just wanted the mice to have a safe home too. I left next and Slow Poke stayed. It was uphill of course because I never made it to the top of the 9 miles. I walked behind Cali and she kept a good pace. When we got to the bottom of the last climb, we hiked together and motivated each other. She kept talking about town and chicken nuggets and all sorts of food that she liked and I talked about it all too and we just used food as a distraction from the pain of the hills and the heat. It went by faster and we made it to the top. There was no view. 9 miles folks, and no view. Literally f*** Virginia lol. There was something beyond the trees, but it was pretty much completely blocked by trees. Whatever, at least we were going down now! We sat for a sec to get service and screamed ¢I want chicken nuggets¢ and were hoping someone would magically drop them to us. Negative on that one. We saw one woman named Prim, and chatted for a moment, although I was on my phone and not really interested in social interaction. I had been before every social interaction involved ¢how many miles did you do?¢ ¢Yeah I¢ve already done 4,000 miles today, gonna do about 20,000 more¢ ¢when¢d you start?¢ ¢Oh I started yesterday, made record time to get here¢. Yeah I just can¢t deal with anyone right now. A young boy passed us named Thumper. He said his Uncle had Trail Magic ahead, so Cali and I moved on. She went ahead of me and was booking it. We were about to pass ¢The Guillotine¢, and I had seen pics of it, so I was excited. It¢s basically a huge boulder that¢s stuck between two rock faces. I was thinking back to watching 127 Hours in the hostel in Hot Springs. Don¢t fall on me boulder! Haha. I was alone when I got there so I set my phone up in my pack and timed a few photos. I then headed on to the road! Trail Magic! Yay! The Uncle was nice, but seemed a little critical of my pace; he had hiked it last year. Thumper was 19 and section hiking with his Uncle for the summer. There was another man, Red Bush; he had a big red beard. Cali asked how he got his name and people chuckled a bit. I¢m slow too sometimes haha. We chatted for a bit and headed on to the shelter, which wasn¢t far. We got there and I pretty much knew I was staying. It again looked like it was going to storm and I was anxious, and I was just so miserable these days. I set up my stuff and so did Thumper and Red Bush. Cali thought she¢d hike on, but ended up staying. Thumper and I really clicked and were having a fun time looking at goofy memes and joking around. He¢s basically a stereotypical 19-year-old boy. I tried to blog a bit, but he kept showing me memes haha. Some of them were kind of offensive, and he was from South Carolina, so I feel like he was not used to some of the political correctness stuff I¢ve seen in college up north. Some of the stuff he showed me made me cringe. Boys would make those kind of jokes in my hometown before people starting speaking up about political correctness and watching what you say. Given Cali¢s views, I was a bit worried about Thumper and what he was saying, but it seemed to be fine. We all went to sleep. Cali unfortunately didn¢t hang her food bag, and she got hungry late at night so she snacked on it, and then left it by her head. Guess who came to enjoy it?! The mice. They ran OVER ME to get to her food and then back to their nest. It was all night and I was about to lose it. It was filthy and I was not into it. I eventually just picked up my sleeping stuff and moved it in between Red Bush and Thumper. Thumper woke up and we chatted and were going to wake up Cali and hang her bag, but we decided not to bother her. It was amazing to me that she didn¢t wake up to the mice. Another short and hot day on the trail, but at least I¢m still going. It¢s such a challenge these days, but I¢m trying my best. One day at a time. Little Debbie