Date: 2019-04-29
From: Spring Mountain Shelter

To: Little Laurel Shelter
Miles today: 8.6
Weather: clear sky

More uphill! These long uphills days can be so exhausting. Prometheus woke up early. I hadn¢t slept well and we had stayed up late talking so we were tired. I felt like I could be in better shape if I went back to sleep for a bit, but Prometheus and Hot Sauce were ready to go. They kind of had an ambitious plan for getting to the next town, Erwin, TN. They wanted to make it there in four days. It was about 70 miles. This mileage plan was stressing them both out and causing some tension for all of us. At this point our mileage should be in the low teens, but sometimes the terrain is pretty rough and that¢s hard to do. Hot Sauce and Prometheus would need to do mid teens or 20s to make their goal. Today was just a hard day. And we were running on little sleep too. We had breakfast and packed things up. Mama Squirrel was there. Haven¢t seen her in a bit! She¢s so great! It was very chilly this morning and the wind was strong. I had my gloves on when we left. A mouse had chewed a hole in Hot Sauce¢s snack pocket while she was in the shelter. We hiked together all morning, arriving at a road crossing with a little country store about four miles in. There was really nothing in the store, but they had cold soda and chips, which sounded delicious. I downed a cold Yoohoo, throwback to childhood! And then I had a coke and Doritos. Prometheus and Hot Sauce were hoping to resupply because their mileage and food plan was changing, but there was nothing to resupply with. It was kind of just a shack with a couple refrigerators and snack boxes and random furniture everywhere. The owner was very nice though and his mom ran this store for a long time before him. She even met Grandma Gatewood, which is so cool! It was a nice little stop. Mama Squirrel found us all. An Australian man named Dundee came in too. I was still feeling meh, but I was happy to have some snacks. We headed out and started climbing again. The soda and Doritos were not settling well and I started to get really nauseous. We all stopped and I took off some layers and had some water. I put sunscreen on too. It took a little bit for me to feel better, but I did, and then we continued on. We split up a bit for the uphill. Prometheus went first and Hot Sauce was a bit in front of me. I stopped for water a couple of times. We ended up at the first shelter of the day.It had been a long day of climbing in the heat. We were all pretty wiped, but Prometheus and I were especially tired. We agreed to stay an hour there and have lunch and then carry on, but as I sat there, I knew I couldn¢t keep going. There was more uphill to come and my body and mind were just done. I told Hot Sauce and Prometheus that I was going to stay and that they were welcome to go on. I know I had just caught up to them, but I had to listen to my needs today. Hot Sauce was determined to keep going another 7 miles. Prometheus felt torn and said he felt like he was playing ¢monkey in the middle¢. I didn¢t want him to feel that way at all. I¢ve always made it clear that we¢re all hiking our own hike and I will split off or join as I go. I was fully prepared to try to catch up another day and I was trying not to put any pressure on them to stay. They decided to carry on. I was sad at first when I realized I had lost them again, but I was happy with my decision to stay. Mama Squirrel showed up and we chatted for a while and had dinner. She had a huge food bag and offered me some food. I personally had enough to get through, but I knew Prometheus and Hot Sauce didn¢t, so I was collecting some to try and help them. X showed up and I was so happy to see her. She¢s truly a sweetheart. We have a lot in common and I enjoyed our bond as young single girls on the trail. She had dinner with us. There were several people that had arrived throughout the course of the afternoon. Some of them were literally coming from Hot Springs that day. That¢s 20 miles, all uphill. They were all averaging 20-mile days. It kind of made me feel like crap. I will definitely get to that point, but I¢m not ready for 20-mile days. I did one and I didn¢t have any weight and it still totally wiped me. I was intimidated and a little annoyed by their mileage, but I had to remind myself that I pushed myself today and did the best I could. Every day is an accomplishment out here and even just putting on my shoes and pack and walking forward is something to be proud of. I was under the impression that the trail would not be as ¢up and down¢ constantly as it was in Georgia, but it is still up and down all the time. I knew there would be tough climbs, but I thought it would level out somehow. There are still a ton of Gaps and the trail doesn¢t level out much. Up down up down up down haha it is somewhat annoying. Someone said the other day that the trail was created by a bunch of drunk red necks and sometimes that feels true. The trail sometimes shoots straight up, but sometimes goes all the way around a mountain and then up. It sometimes climbs for miles and then has no view. It borders North Carolina and Tennessee for what feels like forever. It is constantly changing. There are bypasses on some challenging mountains and ridiculously rocky ridges on others. Sometimes the white blazes lead nowhere. As much as I love this trail, sometimes it is comical to me how it is designed. I felt proud of climbing the amount I did today and chatted with the 20-milers. There was one couple and they did everything together, even at camp. They¢d walk down to the privy and have a chat. I¢m all for couple poop chats. Been there, done that. But if I were hiking with my boyfriend all day every day, I would want to poop alone. To each their own. There was one section hiker who went down to the bathroom 4 times and people were starting to wonder if he was sick. Who knows? We all went to bed. I wanted to stay up and blog and process through the frustrations of the day, but I knew I needed sleep and that was a factor in me stopping here anyway, so I fell asleep. I didn¢t sleep very well, but got enough to prepare for tomorrow. Little Debbie