Date: 2008-03-07
From: Springer Mountain

To: View Entry
Miles today: 15.0

   So far, this is my first journal you will read that has been written by an honest to goodness hiker. Before I was simply a wanna be, now I am the real deal. Right now I am feeling the toll the trail takes on my body. My muscles are stiff, joints are sore, my pinky toe has a blister on the end of it and I already feel antsy when I stop at a shelter with hours of day light to go.    The trail is exactly what I had imagined, dirt with rocks and roots and steep inclines with even steeper downhills; however, the experience is completely unexpected. So far, the trail hasn't been too hard although I hear Blood MNTN, which is tomorrows hike, is a beast. You feel every twinge your body makes and every groan from your knees. Right now my right knee is really sore so I will be getting a brace for it in Neel's Gap. Might be getting a cold since I am coughing and have a runny nose but I nope that's just due to my body being busy maintaining other things. My morale has been pretty low so far and I was thinking about leaving at Neel's but that was only because on day one and two nothing went well for me. I will tell you those stories in a moment. I had a chat with my mom and that put me in a better place, mentally.    On to the stories:      Day One:   Today was crazy. I said 'Bye, I love you,' to my parents at the base of Springer. Leslie and I went up Springer, took a picture with the plaque announcing the beginning of the trail and came down the way we had come to begin our hike. After a couple hours my back hurt, my hips felt like the skin was being peeled away and my shoulder muscles were exhausted from holding up my pack. Turns out my pack was loaded wrong and while the shoulder strap on the left side was up off my body, the one on the right was pulling me down so I was walking all lopsided. When we stopped for lunch Leslie helped me re-pack my bag and it was a little better, but not much. When we reached camp I was so torn up I had bruises on my hips and ribs from the ill-fitted pack and straightening my spine was excrutiating after 7 hours of being hunched over in pain. Luckily, there was a guy (Ruby Tuesday) at the camp site who had fitted packs at an outfitter's store and helped me with mine. Barring bruises and a sore spine, Day two started off a lot better but ended in a flurry of overwhelming emotion.   Day Two: My pack feels great and the weather is beautiful. If I had to guess I would say it was in the 70's all day and the sun was shining enough so that everyone at the shelter that night got a good bit of color on their cheeks. So far, I am the slowest hiker of the 17 people we have camped with so far and I think that is because I am inexperienced and understandably cautious while I feel out the limits my body will go to and because my joints are telling me that the mountains are really long and that I am not used to such exertions. Anyway, the day was as perfect as it could get and with my new and improved pack fit, I was raring to go with an enthusiastic outlook on the rest of the trip. At 12:30 we stopped for lunch at the base of Cooper's MNTN and Leslie finished before me. She asked if I was alright to go on alone and I said, "Sounds great, let's just meet up at Gooch Shelter in 3.5 miles and see if we want to keep going or stay the night." Off she went and on I ate. Another hiker stopped by and we chatted, he was really nice and we started climbing together but in about 2 minutes he was out of earshot and I could barely breathe. Mount Justiss is really steep and long and I was picking my way up the path when about half way up I ran into an older gentleman who started chatting with me. He seemed nice and I didn't get a bad feeling about him. After a minute or two he started talking about the girl who disappeared last season and how he was worried for women who were walking solo. After a few minutes of talking to him I went on and dismissed what he was saying but after awhile my imagination ran away with me and I started to get nervous. I walked a lot faster, nearly sprinted up the mountain and down the otherside. I even got out my pepper spray because I kept hearing voices and rustling in the bushes. Rationally I knew I was over reacting but no matter how many times I told myself to chill out, I couldn't stop freaking out. All I knew was that I needed to catch up to Leslie, who was at LEAST 30 minutes ahead of me. Half way down Justiss I ran into some army trainees who do drills out in this area and I nearly ran them down before I realized they weren't crazed rapists in the woods! At the bottom of Justiss there was a creek and several different paths one could take. The white blaze was poorly marked and so I figured I would take a left. After 15 minutes of walking on a poorly kept trail that didn't seem to have and trek pole holes in the ground I turned around. I almost started crying right there because I was overwhlemed by my imagination. Back at the creek I wanted to take a break but I heard some rustling in the woods and rushed to find the blaze, which was to the right. I went over the creek and nearly ran all the way up Gooch before I found Puppy who let me walk with her. She was so nice to me when she saw how upset I was, it helped me calm down a bit. In the end, we made it safely to the shelter and I realized that the walk that would have taken me 4 hours under normal conditions, took me 2.5. Funny thing though, on that whole run through the forest I didn't even feel a twinge in my knees or hip which is a first so far. Probably all the adrenaline.    Later in the night I tried to go to sleep but I kept thinking about people attacking me in my tent and everything. I hadn't taken a break or had any water on my whole trek after lunch and I was feeling light headed and sick. Went back out to the fire and asked them if putting salt in my water would help my body rehydrate by supplying it with essential salts (I thought this would help cuz after my walk I realized I had sweat so much, granules of salt came off on my fingers if I touched my face.) THey said drink a lot of water and after two nalgenes and 8 pee stops I went back to my tent. THEN, I couldn't stop thinking about how that girl had died by drinking too much water in that radio station contest and my heart got so fast and loud I kept thinking. What if this is the last time I ever hear my heartbeat?! I freaked out but finally got to sleep once it started raining. I think it is safe to say that I haven't died or been raped (knock on wood) and that this is a good sign. I have decided that until I am more experienced I will do my best to stay close to other hikers.    That's all I have to say for now. Thanks for reading my impossibly long journal. I hope it was worth it! I am having a great time out here and can't wait to walk tomorrow.