Date: 2011-08-21
From: Stealth site before Garland

To: Guyot Shelter
Miles today: 7.3
Weather: broken clouds

I had a great night sleep probably because I was fighting a bit of a cold. I woke up refreshed and ready to hike. "Jelly Pants" and I decided that we would try for the second hut but knew that it wasn't absolutely necessary because I was going to stop in town. All hiking to the hut would provide was a chance to stay at one. It would also make the hike into town shorter the next day but at the expense of making today a little harder. There was also a chance of rain in the afternoon so it was possible that we would get wet trying to get there. All day I felt a little on the tired side because, I think, of whatever I was fighting. "Jelly Pants" was constantly pulling ahead of me all day. I met up with "Stinkbug" and "Molehill" as I was heading to Mt Garfield. At the top of Garfield, all four of us were together admiring the views. The weather looked like it was getting worst so we began to believe that the shelter was going to be the best choice. By the time I got to the top of Garfield, I was really beginning to worry about my injured arm. It was just as painful as it was day I injured it originally. The reinjury seemed to have set it back significantly. I couldn't decide if I should push on to the shelter or not. There was the Galehead hut just before the shelter then another hut, Zealand Falls, after the shelter. Making Zealand Falls was what we would have done on a perfect day. The shelter was the choice of the weather turned bad. Now, with my arm hurting, Galehead was looking like a good place to stop for the purpose of resting my arm. I would just have to see how it felt once I got to Galehead hut. After a quick water refill and snack, we continued to Galehead hut for lunch. At Galehead, they had Moroccan lentil soup that was out of this world. I had only one bowl because I was afraid of getting that bloated feeling that I got from lunch at the previous hut stop. While we were eating our soup, "Delaware Dave", "Tippy Toes" and "Boy Scout" showed up. Apparently, "Tippy Toes" didn't realize that I hiked in a kilt. When she noticed, she said that she liked me even more. I guess her complement makes up for all the weird looks I get from some guys. After a quick visit with them, "Jelly Pants" and I decided to take off in order to get to the shelter before it rained. "Stinkbug" and "Molehill" had already left by the time we decided to move on. Whatever hope we had of making it to the Zealand Falls hut was gone. The rain was coming. My arm seemed to feel better so I thought I would be alright with continuing on. If I stayed, it would have been another day before I could get out checked by a doctor. We summitted the next mountain, had our pictures taken then just booked it to the shelter. "Jelly Pants" got there before I did and I got into the shelter about a minute before the rain hit. I stayed in the shelter to stay dry and because the only tent spots were wooden platforms which aren't convenient for non self standing tents. After I had dinner, I watched this group of weekend hikers prepare their meal. They made a stew with fresh vegetables and couscous. It smelled very good especially after eating trail food. The cool thing was they made more then they could eat. So all of us thru-hikers got to have free food. There was another weekend hiker who realized that he had more food than he needed so he gave us his extra food. I love it when these guys are around. There's always extra food. I was tired from being sick with a low level cold. As I went to sleep, I thought about my situation. I had an injured arm, was fighting a cold, my water filter was broken and it looked like I wasn't going to finish as early as I wanted to. Not finishing early wasn't a big issue because I'm enjoying the hiking overall but the other problems really weighed on me. Still, I wasn't going to give up. I have come this far, have dealt with some tough issues already, so these certainly were not going to stop me. I resolved to tackle each one and keep going.