Date: 2007-05-01
From: Flint Mountain Shelter

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 8.8
Weather: few clouds

May 1, Section Hiker JealousyI wanted to sleep in today but I got up at my usual 7:15ish and it was 55 degrees in my tent. I slept with my vestibule open last night, I really like that. I'm still bummed that Scribe has to head home for a bit but I hope it's just that - just a bit. This shelter has been crazy with traffic this morning. Several people who left the last shelter were already here by 9 a.m. We're taking the morning even slower than usual since we don't have a ton of miles planned today. My pack is slowly getting lighter as I eat my meals. Last night, I ate two Ramen packets. I wish everything were as simple as Ramen - it's fast and easy. I think I am finally getting sick of oatmeal in the morning and I am on a temporary strike of mashed potatoes. Don't want to overdo it. I've started eating Lipton meals this week and they aren't bad but it's harder to cook them in freezer bags - you have to let them sit for about ten minutes and, even then, they're chewy sometimes. Oh well. I don't like eating meat on the trail because you can still taste it hours later and that's just gross. It's really an interesting balance here.Turns out I'm just like I am in real life out here. I like peace and quiet and small groups of people. If I get to a shelter with a million people, I try to stick to myself a bit - just something about it. I'm still not a morning person and this seems like it's not the place to be as a non-morning person. Folks in these parts are downright jolly in the morning. I met a gal, E Minor, this morning who said it best, "I've met morning people. They're confusing." I still don't like a lot of pointless questions - did you stay here last night? When did you start? Where are you headed? How many miles are you doing today? None of these things matter. (Maybe I shouldn't journal in the morning - the grinch comes out.) ...Yikes...I'm afraid journaling before bed won't make me less of a grinch today. This was a rough day - after a string of other rough days.The morning's hike was great. Easy and fast. When we got to the first road crossing, we stopped with another hiker congregation to rest. We even got to talk to some fine folks from the Dept. of Corrections as they came to pick up their "Inmates Working" sign. Hehe.After that, the hiking got tougher but it was punctuated by four stream crossings - each about .3 miles apart - so it was made more enjoyable. We had lunch and soaked our feet at the third one and got lots of water at the fourth. Dreamy. After that, we climbed up the mountain for the rest of the day. I think it was around 85 degrees today and we were all feeling it. I enjoyed the day and knowing that it was warm enough that I didn't need to worry about getting to camp with wet clothes. We hiked with Kokopelli, Chuck Norris and Tigger, and BearKiller and Scout for a good portion of the day. I enjoyed that. Kokopelli has a great attitude and it's definitely nice to meet someone like that. She has decided to hike 600 miles this year. Chuck Norris and Tigger also seem like great folks, real down-to-earth. They are thru-hiking. BearKiller is a riot. He's hiking with his son, Scout, on a section to Virginia. We leapfrogged with those fine folks all day. There were no trail markers of any sort today so for the most part, we were relying on odd guidebook descriptions. It wasn't bad until we all started hurting. Certain's left foot was aching in the arch and my right Achilles was killing me. Kokopelli was hiking in her Crocs because it all hurt. We were practically crawling to the shelter and I was in an awful mood. I put my Crocs on before the shelter to see if they'd make my feet feel any better. Finally, Chuck Norris let out a huge bear-like yell. That's how frustrated we all were. We got to the shelter shortly after that and got set up. You could see the frustration on everyone's faces.Luckily, I was able to find a pretty private spot for my tent because I was in no shape to be with others. Water was a whole other hike which, as Kokopelli noted, was a bad cap to a bad day. I think my day would have been fine had my Achilles not hurt. It's scary knowing any little ache or pain out here could be the end of it. My foot felt terrible with any pressure at all.Certain and I made dinner together and got a lot of frustrations out. We're both worried about our respective feet ailments and trying to figure out the best way to deal with them. If we get up in the morning still in pain, we will zero out here. I'm fine with that prescription but I just really want to speed up so it's frustrating too. Lots of frustration. Everyone says the miles will come naturally but we seem to be stuck feeling comfortable with 11-12. Maybe I'm being impatient in that regard. It's also frustrating, when we know we're taking it pretty slow, to be in such pain. It's frustrating knowing that if we stop to enjoy the streams, overlooks, and vistas, we won't get into camp when we prefer to. It's frustrating when you have to choose between hiking 8 or 16 miles - because we don't really have a choice, we have to do eight. It's frustrating that I am developing a jealousy of section hikers - they all seem so carefree and can spend their time however they wish because they don't have to beat the clock. They also don't ask the silly questions mentioned earlier. So, we talked about all of these things and filled our tear quota for the week.Anyway. It really was a beautiful day. Sadly, this has just been a low week for me and today really fueled the fire. I'm hoping for a fresh start in Erwin.- Sound of Certain talking on her phone.Post Trail Thoughts:This was a tough day but I was glad to be surrounded by such good people. It was a pleasure to be around Scout, BearKiller, Chuck Norris and Tigger, and Kokopelli. I'm a little embarassed that I was a public grinch but I think it shows a true part of the hike - it's not all fun and games.Alpine Strider was also at camp that night, the first time I'd met the infamous hiker from Germany.