Date: 2016-07-28
From: Stealth camp 

To: Nuckear Lake
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: moderate rain

Today was a good day it was once again hot and humid but I managed to crank out a 20 mile day! The amazing thing was I rested at deli/pizzeria in the heat of the day and still did the miles.My feet are hurting tomorrow I going to Pawling New York and get my new pair of shoes at the post office. My original Vasque boots are falling apart. That's not a bitch these things have carried me 1,450 miles!There was nothing extra ordinary about today's hike just pounding out miles. I think I had such a good afternoon because I was able to fill up at the pizzeria/deli. I ate a slice of pizza and a foot-long chicken sandwich with melted cheese. I also drank a couple of Gatorades (they did not have Powerade) and I had to Italian ices.After the feast Thresher, Moose Dancer and I found some shade behind the deli where they set up a spot specifically for hikers and waited out the heat of the day.Because there's no real highlights I'm going to address some questions that have recently been asked of me on another website called Texas Bow Hunter. Questions involved decisions that I have made both in preparation and during my hike thus far.Preparation best and worst decisions:By far the best decision was to seriously take into consideration the weight that I was going to be carrying. I built an XL spreadsheet and calculated everything that I considered for the journey and constantly monitored the weight I would be carrying. Without this I'm confident I would have started with 10 more pounds of useless weight and that could have been disastrous. I am also happy that I did not live this journey via YouTube and books before I did it. I wanted to be surprised about what I saw and I purposely did not over plan places that I "must see" or watch all the videos that exist about hiking the trail.Regarding the worst decision, doing it again I would have started a little bit earlier. I started April 5 looking back I would have been better off starting at the end of March say March 25 26 or 27th. There is no way you can be in shape for the mountains of Georgia especially if you live in Houston Texas and I moved very slow at first. An earlier start would have given me a few days cushion to stop and enjoy now that I have my trail legs. Live and learn.On the trail best and worst decisions:The worst decision was the bowl of time I spent in and around the Damascus Trail Days. Trail days itself was very fun and something I would absolutely recommend any hiker to attend however the manner in which I did it ended up costing several extra days that I wish I had to use elsewhere. The best on trail decision I made was to live to the standard of "hike your own hike" On the surface it seems like such a clich© kind of phrase but it's the difference between success and failure out here. Hiking at your own hike forces you to make some critical decisions that are not always the easiest like when to not like with someone any longer it also results in you being alone at times. I've also come to learn that if you were uncomfortable with being alone you're probably not going to survive a thru hike. In the beginning it was like one big social every night at shelters that is not the case anymore. It's like as I type this I'm sitting in the middle of the woods alone in a tent and I'm perfectly comfortable with this.I hope tonight's blog was informative and I hope I have some neat stuff to report tomorrow I know I will be happy to have my new boots let's cross our fingers and hope that Vasque sent the right ones!!