Date: 2009-07-04
From: Fishers Gap

To: Ashburn, VA (DC Metro)
Miles today: 0.0

Being the 4th of July, today was a bit of a whirlwind day. I¢m just going to explain the highlights and then I¢m going to use a ¢filler¢ email that I sent to my cousin John Henssler a few days back with some reflections on the trail. You might find it to be rather interesting. Highlights:-        Eating large breakfast (with Mickey Mouse pancakes, yahoo!)-        Running around with kids-        Going through all of my belongings in my pack and preparing new ¢mail drop¢ for Kathy to bring down to Harpers Ferry next week. This was done out on the porch and it looked as if a bomb had exploded. Katie Hutch helped me to organize a good bit of it. -        ¢Dumping¢ most of my photos onto Kathy¢s computer and then setting up my new iPod nano (finally, I have music again!)-        Swimming at the pool and going off the one water slide. -        Becky ending up buying a TON of great fruit for me ¢ raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, mangoes, plums, and bananas. -        Eating huge meal, having family sing ¢Happy Birthday¢ to me, and eating Carvel ice cream cake. -        Talking to my buddy, Halim, from Lebanon, who is currently working in DC. He was just admitted into Columbia MBA.   -        Running around with sparklers with the kids and setting off huge fireworks. Ruth had invited families from the neighborhood to come together for ice cream and fireworks.-        Saying goodbye to Kathy, Michael, Becky, Katie, and Alex ¢ sad moment, but I will see them in a week in Harpers Ferry. Excerpts from a letter/email (dated 6/30) to my cousin, John, who is currently getting his PhD at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor:Dear John,This was perhaps one of the best emails I have ever read. Allow for me to attempt to reciprocate and address personal thoughts and reflections on your own note. I have been hiking alone now for the past week or so, seeing a total of 2-3 people per day ¢ that is, if I'm lucky. I'm 'behind' due to the fact that I was off the trail for seven days in order to rest a nasty quad injury and four more days for my friends¢ (plural) wedding up in New York. During the past week out on the trail, I reached a breaking point on multiple occasions, resulting from a variety of ailments: muscle fatigue, exhaustion, sleeping 4-5 hours per night due to horrible bugs biting me incessantly, complete lonesomeness, seeing other thru-hikers 'yellow-blaze' or skip large sections of the trail while I continue to uphold my values and hike every white blaze, dehydration, 95-degree heat, headaches, etc. the list goes on and on. At times, it really has not been fun at all. However, as low as your morale and spirit can plummet in a single day, they can also climb ten fold in a sheer instant, giving you the feeling that you are on top of the world. Beautiful vistas of rolling green hills, meeting incredible locals and thru-hikers, finding the goodwill of the common man, embracing the unique qualities of each town, or beating a personal challenge of distance hiked in a single day¢¦for me, this is when everything comes back into perspective. The trail certainly has its peaks and valleys, but so does the state of one¢s mind. What I've come to realize over the past several years through various challenges and experiences and what I'm beginning to re-discover out on the trail is that your MIND controls your SPIRIT and your SPIRIT controls who you ARE. I knew that this hike was not going to be easy. It is a major accomplishment that I have just walked over 850 miles from Georgia to Northern Virginia, but a crazy thought that I still have over 1,300 more miles to go. 1,300 miles!!! In the words of my brother, Phil: ¢That¢s a long f-n way!!!¢ This hike truly is about pushing the limits of one's body and mind¢¦ and I¢m beginning to realize just how strong my resolve has become and, in ongoing terms, is becoming. It's quite amazing, really. I very much enjoyed your quote: "The part of your brain that tells you to stop should be treated with great suspicion." I will be sure to carry it with me out on the trail. Similar quote/experience/meaning, but of rather undue significance: When I was in Buena Vista a few days back, one of my buddies from Duke, who I had not talked to for some time, gave me a ring. We talked for a short while, but I had to get back to the trail and didn't have too much time to chat. The next day, I hit one of the lowest points that I have had while hiking and, for some inexplicable reason, all I could think about was my friend's 'signature' line in his personal email: "Ain't gonna be no rematch!" This is a quote from Apollo Creed from one of the Rocky movies. Yes, I know¢¦very, very strange context and rather tacky, but it was amazing at how clear the message was (or how clear I interpreted it to be): "Tully, most likely you are never going to have a chance to hike the AT again. This is the time to complete it. This is the year to do it. You've put so much energy and effort into the past 1.5 years to help you succeed. Now is the time to keep going. You have to do it this time around, because there ain't gonna be no rematch!!!" You may find this intervention to be rather strange (I do as well), but a simple quote such as this one helped to get me over a huge hurdle and get my mind back on track. I proceeded to think about all of the great things I had experienced to date on the AT and the fact that I was nearly at the halfway point and had relatively easy terrain in front of me. I also realized that I was pulling some big miles (averaging 20+ miles per day) over the past week and I had been gaining ground on my friends each and every day. I had so many things going for me that all I had to do was to pinch myself, breathe deeply, look around, and realize who I was, where I was and what I was doing. Yesterday, I set a record for my own distance completed in one day - a whopping 27.0 miles with a heavy pack on - and this included some very tough climbs (especially at Three Ridges, from where I had sent you a text). When my friend, Jill, picked me up at Rockfish Gap, I was literally delirious ¢ constantly laughing at my sheer exhaustion, lack of sleep, hunger, tired muscles, and the fact that I had just done more than a marathon up, over and through the mountains - all with a heavy pack on. My laughing fit continued throughout the evening and Zack and Jill had no idea what to think of it all. Man, finishing the day was such an unbelievable feeling that I nearly broke down and started crying. The Shennies (Shenandoah National Park) will be coming up tomorrow and I should be able to blaze my way through the park rather quickly, while still taking time to enjoy the nature and the delicate sunshine. Many thru-hikers say that they hit the ¢Virginia Blues¢ around this time; I can totally see why. I have loved hiking Virginia, but I just can't wait to move on to a new state. It's been far too long.