Date: 2005-02-20
To: The Ol' Clay Carcase
Miles today: 0.0

¢Why, if the Soul can fling the dusts aside,And naked on the Air of Heaven ride,Were¢t not a Shame ¢ were¢t not a Shame for himIn this clay carcase crippled to abide?Ok, first, name the author ¢ 20 points for the first person to sign the register with the correct answer. Second, how does this wonderful bit of poetry relate to my pre-hike planning?   Hint: I¢ve been doing some working out recently, finally, and my joints just ain¢t what they used to be. The good new is that I think I can lighten my pack by a few ounces by leaving my bear bells behind. The bad news is that my creaking knees will undoubtedly alert the bears to my presence long before I heave this ol¢ clay carcase into their sight.           Now, don¢t misunderstand. I am NOT complaining. I knew going into this thing that it wasn¢t going to be easy. My 200 miles of section hiking clued me in to that. And the fact is I¢m still reasonably optimistic about my ability to do the hike ¢ provided I can defeat THE MILAGE MONTSTER. That¢s what it¢s called. It¢s one of the most common phenomenons out there ¢ so common, it has its own name. It¢s that little red-headed guy who sits on your left shoulder and tries to talk you into pushing yourself too hard, too far, and too fast. I call mine ¢Mr. C¢mon,¢ and he scares me to death. ¢C¢mon, ya wimp, you aren¢t going to settle for a 7.8 mile day, are ya?? ¢C¢mon, you can make it to the next shelter. It¢s only another five miles, and there¢s three more hours of daylight.¢ ¢C¢mon, yer never gonna make it to Katahdin if ya take a ZERO day here in Hot Springs. Ya can always come back and soak in the tubs another time.¢And the taunt I fear the most: ¢C¢mon, if you don¢t pick it up, your friends are going to get so far ahead of you that you¢ll never seem them on the trail again.¢         When people ask me if I¢m not afraid of being out on the trail by myself, afraid of the bears and the snakes, or afraid the weather will be too cold in March, I tell them: ¢No. What worries me is how well my feet will hold up, and how well my knees will hold up, and how well my back will hold up. THOSE are the things that are most likely to throw me off the trail.¢   Those are the parts that will break down if I push too hard.         Oh, I know, after the first 200 miles, when your body is basically in shape for hiking all day, it will be the mental challenge that looms large. But much of that has to do with keeping your spirits up, and keeping your spirits up is in no small measure determined by how your body feels. Take, for example, the condition of your feet. How they feel depends on such things as: (a)        how well your boots are fitting (not how well they may have fit when you started at Springer, but how they fit after your feet have changed their size from hiking in them all day, everyday, for a several weeks;(b)        how dry your feet are, which depends on both weather (rain) and hiking conditions (my feet sweat a lot more in the heat of August than the cold of March), including whether you¢ve been able to dry your socks out thoroughly since the last time you wore them;(c)        what kind of trail you¢ve been hiking ¢ the soft (and rare) luxury of a pine needle-strewn treadway or the sole-bruising dinosaur-toothed rocks for which Pennsylvania is so famous; (d)        how much elevation you faced that day, the up, up, ups which take their toll on your heals, and the down, down, downs which take their toll on your toes;(e)        how many miles you¢ve hiked that day (and the difference, by the way, between 10 miles and 20 miles is not a straight-line extrapolation!); and(f)        last, but not least, the pace of your hike ¢ not just the average speed, but how often you have stopped for a break, and maybe even have taken your shoes off to let your feet breath, and maybe even changed your socks. When I did my first major hike, 104 miles through the Shenandoah National Park, I hadn¢t learned yet about Mr. C¢mon, or about how to take care of my feet. As a result, I had the worst heal blisters, and the worst pain from my toes, that I have ever experienced. What I quickly learned was that friction is the enemy. If you feel a hot spot developing, it¢s from friction. If you don¢t stop, right then, and fix it, it will only get worse. And then a lot worse. And then A LOT WORSE.         That¢s why, by the way, I carry a fairly heavy med kit. My med kit, and the ability to patch up all my various wounds several times a day, was what saved that particular hike. Once the damage is done, you¢ve got to have the ability to patch it up, and keep it reasonably dry, and not under immediate friction, in order to allow it to heal. Unless you want to take a few days off in town, waiting for things to heal.         I¢m hoping that I¢ve learned my lesson, at least as far as the things go that are under my control, but some things may not be. Like the weather and whether or not I can keep my socks dry. Wet socks are not good for the skin on your feet. The greater risk, however, is Ol¢ Mr. C¢mon. As in ¢C¢mon, you don¢t want to stop here and deal with that hot spot; there¢s no good place to sit down, and besides it¢s not that bad. C¢mon, you¢ll be at the top in another 20 minutes and your can take care of it then¢¦.¢ Or, ¢C¢mon, just grab a quick bite and let¢s keep hikin¢. You¢re doing so well today, you can do 18 if you don¢t stop for all these breaks. You don¢t need to waste time changin¢ yer socks; ya just put dry ones on this morning.¢         He was with me in the Shenandoah National Park, and sure e¢nuf, he¢s coming with me to Springer. He is the enemy. Unfortunately, he doesn¢t just deal with how far and how fast I hike. There¢s other mischief he can do. He just puts on a different hat, and a new disguise, and another demon seems to appear. There¢s ¢Worrier Man,¢ for example, who is likely to fret about things left behind, or things that might not get done if he doesn¢t do them; and there¢s ¢The Organizer¢ ¢ the everything-just-so, guy; and there¢s ¢¦well, you get the idea. I may introduce you to some of them before I leave. If I don¢t, you¢ll no doubt meet up with them on the trail.   Sometimes I think I should take a bigger tent for all of characters that I¢ll be bringing with me, but then I remember ¢ it¢s really only one guy. One guy with a satchel full of disguises. And he IS the enemy. But he is also...me. ¢I sent my Soul through the Invisible, Some letter of that After-life to spell;And by and by my Soul return¢d to me,And answer¢d ¢I Myself am Heav¢n and Hell¢.¢ Stay tuned,