Date: 2006-07-21
To: A Day in the Life
Miles today: 0.0

by LeftyI wrote an earlier journal entry describing what a day in our life was like when we slack-pack. Today I¢d like to share what a typical day feels like when we are backpacking without that extra help. Today didn¢t start out great, but sometimes days with difficult starts and happy endings are the most sweet and memorable. I am in my tent and my alarm goes off at 6:00am. If I have cell phone reception where we have camped, I turn my phone on and hope that Buoy is able to call. For him in Germany it is 6 hours later. I hit the snooze on my watch a few times. By 6:30am I am lying on top of my sleeping bag and doing my stretches. Skywalker taught me some good shin and foot stretches when we first met him week one of our hike. One includes raising your feet a few inches off of the ground and writing the alphabet with your feet. After stretching I sit up and start packing my backpack. First the sleeping bag, which is usually a little damp with condensation, gets put into its stuff sack and tightened up until it¢s about the size of a basketball. I have three other waterproof bags. In one I have all my clean clothes. The second stores all food and food wrappings. The third is for all miscellaneous items including: extra tissues, chargers, etc. I rearrange the batteries in my headlamp so it doesn¢t accidentally turn on and drain its power when packed away. My headlamp has its own special pocket in my backpack so that I can easily get to it if I end up hiking into dark. Other items in an easy access pocket include my mileage charts and hiking information books, tissue and wet wipes, snacks for the day, bug juice and a water purifier. Once everything inside the tent is packed away I unzip my tent and go outside. It¢s funny how you feel ¢inside¢ when you¢re in your tent. It is a very comforting feeling. You are protected from the bugs, the rain, the wind and from walking on your achy feet. Once out of my tent I go take down the bear bag that holds all of our food items, wrappers and other nice smelling items, like Chap Stick and soap, etc. I deliver mom her bear bag, take out the foods I plan to eat for bfast and lunch and then pack the rest away. I take down my tent and pack it away. I take my wet clothes off of a nearby branch (which were washed the night before) and tie them onto my pack so they can continue drying throughout the day. I top off my water bottles and filter it if necessary. p>Before I leave camp mom and I decide where to meet for a lunch break and where we plan to end up at the end of the day. On this particular morning it was about 7:30am and I was on my way. I didn¢t eat any breakfast because my book said that the next shelter, just 3 miles up the trail, had a fridge with snacks, soda and ice cream. This is highly unusual! PN has had a few shelters that are buildings maintained by a caretaker who lives right next door. Some of these shelters have real bunks, tables and chairs, four walls and food. Usually 3 miles would not take me more than an hour and a half to hike, but this am I was hiking for over 2 hours before I had the first awful thought that I may have missed the shelter. Normally shelters are very well marked. By 10:00 am I was despondent. I knew that I had passed it. Going back was not an option. No one goes back. I sat down on a rock and had a pity party for about 40 minutes. It was terrible. These moments of not getting the food or respite that I had been looking forward to are among my lowest ¢lows¢ since I have been on the trail. It didn¢t make it any easier to know that mom was probably there right at that moment sucking down some ice cold soda and scoffing down chocolate ice cream. Once I pulled myself together and got my pack back on ¢Ramps¢, another thru-hiker we¢d met a few days earlier, informed me that the shelter¢s fridge had been removed. I am more than a little embarrassed to admit that just hearing those words did make me feel a bit better. Seven miles later I met up with mom, Skywalker and Ramps at the next shelter. Skywalker was the only one who ventured for water, which is usually in close proximity to shelters. He was gone for over a half hour. The rest of us decided to make do with what we had. We all had a good rest, decided where we would camp that night and planned a short detour to a restaurant near a road crossing. Mom and Skywalker left first. Ramps and I tried to wait out the downpour. We lucked out and waited just long enough to miss the rain entirely. The next four miles to the road were once again filled with anticipation of real food, a bathroom, table and chairs and air conditioning. Luckily, we were not disappointed this time. We had an absolutely wonderful time gorging ourselves with The Blue Mountain B & B¢s specials of the night, drinking a couple Murphy¢s Irish Stout, eating desert and topping it off with a perfect cup of coffee. It was heaven. These ¢highs¢ are among the best feelings that I have had on the trail. It is truly amazing to me how much I look forward to and appreciate real food and simple comforts.After spending a couple of hours at the restaurant we put our packs back on and hiked the two miles to Tripoli spring. We all got our tents up before the rain started again, which was wonderful. We hung our bear bags, watered up and I prepared for my bath. Yes, you heard me right, my bath. The best part of my day (excluding real food, of course) is bathing at the end of the day. It doesn¢t matter if it is a river, a stream, a few bottles of water or a water fountain-if there is water around I will feel like a new woman after getting all the grit and grime off of me. My favorite bathing venue is a mountain stream. I go downstream from where the hikers are, get naked, and go in. I actually prefer a mountain stream now to a motel shower. Okay, the motel¢s we stay at leave little to be desired, but still-nothing beats a beautiful stream. Once I am clean, I wash my hiking clothes. I have a special peppermint soap that is environmentally safe and multi purpose for hair, body, dishes and clothes. I drip dry then put on my hiking clothes that I will wear the next day. I head back to camp and feel soooooo good. No shower anywhere has ever made me feel as clean and refreshed as a mountain stream. It¢s heaven! The bugs are so bad that most people just climb in their tent as soon as it¢s up and they are done eating. Once in, I start unpacking my pack. Mat down first, then sleeping bag, head lamp out, books out, pillow made out of my sack with clothes in it, alarm set and phone on to see if their¢s reception. If so, I check my messages. Today I have a rather amusing message from my dad. He said that he received a package addressed to him from me. He opened it, and the first thing he pulled out was a pair of women¢s underwear. ¢Not very nice to do to your daddy, Kelley.¢ Sorry, Dad! I guess that I forgot to give you a heads up that I was sending some of my stuff to your place. I had the energy to write in my journal tonight, which is unusual. I even combed my hair and checked for ticks. The thunder and lightening came and we were all safe and dry in our tents. The day was over. It was time to rest. This is a great feeling. Final nighttime rituals before going to sleep involve killing any bugs that snuck into the tent, taking my allergy medicine and Tylenol PM, and planning for the next day¢s hike. Lights out by10:00pm at the latest, and I¢m asleep by 10:05pm.