Date: 2012-06-22
From: Gren Anderson Shelter

To: Murray Property
Miles today: 18.4

Ack, no I'm not dead and yes I'm still on trail happily going strong. I just haven't had signal or the opportunity to update in a long time to be able to sit down and journal. So here we go.It was so hot last night that I had trouble sleeping. Even though i don't always sleep with the tarp fully deployed, I set it up ready to go and flip a side back. I was thankful for this as around 2 in the morning we got a quick light rain that woke me up, I jumped out of the hammock, flipped the tarp and was back in with only a few new bug bites to show for it. they always seem to be just waiting for me these days, buzzing all around, landing on the bug netting, poking their little blood sucking straws at me. I'm getting a later start today mostly because of the bad sleep and not wanting to leave the protection of my bug netting. eventually i did leave though and two miles later at the pavilion I had one of those decision moments. Dos was there with a volunteer from ATC who was driving her around on her zero day. beside awesome trail magic, he offered to drive me up the road some and save me 8 miles. It was such a nice offer, but almost immediately i knew that one day, a few years from now I might look back and regret it, so i thanked him and said no. And in a way the next 8 miles came easier because I chose to do them. It reminded me that this whole thing was a choice and that made the physical pain less. TToday was also the day I realized that my food hoarding is way out of hand. At lunch I finished up a little bag of trail mix thinking hmm this seems a little stale. Which is when I realized I bought it in front royal VA. That means I've carried it through 5 states. That's well over 300 miles. I have a problem people. The kind nice men in white suites start talking to you about. Hmmmm.   But that was not my only problem of the day. My journal reads, "stupid stupid stupid". This is because I did an incredibly stup8id thing. So all day on this bright sunny day we could k hear thunder but it wasn't until I got to a view spot that I saw a really cool isolated mushroom cloud that was almost stationary it was so slow moving and just a dark spot beneath. Hiked a few more miles to the visitor center where a bunch of us were hanging out sipping the free sodas they gave us for signing in (as if we needed a bribe for putting our names anywhere after all the shelter log training). There was still the sound of thunder rollin in the distance but the storm was so slow moving that i sat there for a good hour waiting impatiently for it to pass before deciding i'd had enough and was going to just head out and try to outrun it. This was a bad decision. of course it catches me just as i reach the exposed ridge line, oh yeah also the highest point in New Jersey with big rock slabs, waist high bushes, and one idiot hiker running along with metal lightening rods in her hands. and it was a bad storm too. hard winds, harder rain, the kind that flips all the leaves white. within seconds the trail turned into a 3 inch deep creek. but the worst was the thunder and lightening. the air actually felt like it had an electric charge to it and the rumblings sounded like a bowling alley mixed with fireworks crackling full of deadly static build up. Again, stupid stupid stupid.I did make it down the ridge line and to lower safer ground without incident, soaked through with sloshing water in my boots. The storm blew by just then and the sun came out brining blue sky with it. I trudged along at this point berating myself for putting miles ahead of my safety and putting myself in the worst place at the worst possible time. Mad at myself for my actions and experiencing a serious wake up call regarding the mile mentality I've developed in the last few days, I felt it was time to reevaluate the plan for the rest of the hike. the rest of the day was field walks and paths through the woods where we walked through old stone walls and over streams. So one of the major incentives for todays big miles and rash decisions was getting to the Murray property which is a privately owned cabin that he make available for hikers to use. there is also electricity but most importantly a hot shower. oh to be clean and to have the water be warm. If you want to know how little thru hikers care about most normal concerns and where our priorities are, here's a fun little trail experience. I have never been much of a prude but this was the moment where I realized I simply do not care and my inhibitions are completely gone. the shower was essentially a nozzle mounted on the side of one of the buildings. no walls, no screens, just water shooting form the wall and an open field. and me naked as the day I was born, scrubbing off the deet and dirt with not a care in the world. this is freedom people.