Date: 2018-06-10
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Miles today: 0.0

Sun Day 119 6/10 hitting the wallUp and out at 5 a.m. . Because we were camping in a water source we had to hike 150 ft away from the water source to brush your teeth and take care of morning activities. This was for maintaining the integrity of the watershed. You don't want to use soap within a hundred feet of a water source. The trail was Rocky to start. It did not feel good on my feet. My hiking shoes end up feeling like thin leather moccasins. My feet have become so sensitive each irregularity of the trail surface makes its imprint on my sensitive feet. Usually that inpact results in a painful experience. I am grateful that the open sores that were on the bottom of my feetare finally healing. It used to be tough on either foot. Each step was shooting pain where the toes meet the ball of my foot. When my feet were actively infected every step was a painful. Things are so much better now. Everyday I wash my feet with 91% isopropyl alcohol. I am more scared of wet feet and deer ticks that I am of bears. Every night after I wash my feet I cut away little slivers of dead skin. We were making good time even though I felt tired. The trail surface very from Ralph Rocky Roots to pretty clear nice hiking. It was a cool temperature and really a good day for himing. We stop at the water source pretty early. There was a Seven Mile Stretch of no water coming up. And like I said before, when we come across good water we just Camel up. Even though it seemed like a perfect day for hiking conditions my legs felt very heavy and I was just wearing down. We weren't planning to zero for another couple days. But with five miles to go, it was clear that I was all used up. There was no way I was hiking anywhere tomorrow. The arch in my left foot started talkin to me for the first time in a hundred twenty days. My knee was talkin to me as well. My knee wasn't screaming at me like it can but it was regularly talkin to me. It was different from when I wrenched it 5 days ago. That was a different pain and that seemed okay. This was an overuse discussion that my knee was having with me that I better pay attention to. My lower back was also talked to me in a very loud voice and it was getting very loud. About 3 miles in we met Squeeze again on the trail. Soon after Squeeze we met some section hikers who wanted to hike with us. This was fine cuz by this time we will pretty slow and we weren't getting out in front of anybody. We had a lot of lively discussion and for a mile we were distracted. The last two miles in to Dalton seem to last forever. Gumby passed us. He recognized me from Front Royal quite a while ago. We chatted briefly and he moved on. As we entered Dalton, Redbird his hiking partner caught up. He hiked right on into town w us He had no need to pass. Dalton is a very pretty town. Lots of old New England architecture with lots of big maple trees shading everything. We stopped at Sweet Peas and had ice cream and Sarsaparilla soda. It was hot now in the sun on the concrete. We hiked on and stopped at the convenience store and bought some Gatorade. Squeeze was walking past and we flagged her down and got her phone number. We've been crossing paths with her for the last month. She likes to solo hike. Checked into the hotel foun, a great place to eat, Java and Juice. Ate a lot of food and crashed. We were supposed to hike with Ibex's brother, Jess on Monday but that was out the window. I don't think I could walk to the store. I just hit a wall today and it was over.