Date: 2008-06-25
From: Dickenson Gap

To: Niday Gap
Miles today: 16.0

A glorious day in Virginia! 9:19 am and I sit on a ledge overlooking the valley a ridge in the distance. Far off in the valley to the west I can see houses, streets and mowed areas. The rock I am sitting on forms a perfect chair, complete with a backrest and decorated with years and years worth of lichen: green and gray and peach. So I was thinking I would go through what a typical day is like for me, for all of you who have asked and may be wondering. Here it is:Almost always I wake around 5:30 and then go back to sleep for another 30 minutes. (unless I didn't catch Doug the night before in which case I set my alarm for 5 or 5:15 and get up immediately)So then I wake up again usually right around 6. I lay in my tent a few minutes listening to the bird songs and fully waking up. I pack up my sleeping bag and all the other things in my tent and set everything outside the door. Finally not able to delay it any longer, I lock up my sore feet in their boots and step out into the morning. My feet and joints are always stiff and it takes a few minutes to get them into working mode again.Usually I take down and pack up my tent and then pack it and my sleeping bag into my pack. Next I fetch the bear bag, wind up the rope and carry the food to the "kitchen." This is simply the area that we use to eat and cook and it usually consists of a fallen tree or rock to lean against and a flat bit of ground to cook on.By now, Doug is up (he sets his alarm for 6:30) and we sit and eat breakfast together. Breakfast choices include hot chocolate, oatmeal with nuts or cold cereal with powdered milk. Following breakfast I pack up all my food and stuff it into my backpack, brush my teeth, give the area a once over and then head out. At the start of the day Doug and I are usually together but that hardly ever lasts long. One stop by me (to remove a layer of clothing, use the privy, fix a boot, stretch, get something from my bag, ect) and Doug is ahead and gone for the day.I walk on alone, stopping for a break around every hour and a half when I will sit down and have a snack. Snacks could be granola bars, cereal bars, cheese sticks, cheese and crackers and water. I feel strongly about taking breaks as I think I owe it to my body from which I expect SOOOOOO MUCH! The least I can do is take the weight off for 10-20 minutes. Length of breaks vary according to: (in this order)1. amount and degree of bug pests2. view or comfort of the spot3. my state of mind4. time of day (late in the day my breaks are hardly ever more than 5 minutes as all I want to do is be done for the day and catch Doug)Breaks might also be just for fun because I'll be darned if I 'm going to pass up a chance to enjoy the fruits of my labor--snacking on blueberries or blackberries, sitting at a vista, or cooling off in a creek. If I come to a large enough stream/creek/river I will usually stop and wash--myself, my clothes if need be and sometimes even my hair depending on how long it is after a re-supply. For me, feeling clean (or cleaner) does wonders for my state of mind--even when I know I will likely be hot and sweaty again before the hour is up. Breaks are my favorite part of everyday! I take lunch when I am good and hungry and when I have water. Water is key and if I don't have any I will hold off on eating until I come to some. Lunch is typically between 11:30-1 and takes about an hour. I love lunch! And it is ALWAYS hard to get up and move on (unless of course there are lots of bugs)Lunch might be: tuna with mayo on a roll or pita or in a tortilla, peanut butter and jelly sandwich or pepperoni and cheese in a tortilla. I usually have a cheese and cracker pack, combos or cracker jacks with kool aid and cookies for dessert, which, at the end of the week must be eaten with a spoon!I should mention here that part of my day everyday, is spent getting water. Sometimes the streams or springs are right on the trail, but often, getting water involves a walk, usually downhill. They are "blue-blazed" and can be 50 feet or 500 feet + off the trail. So I set my pack down, follow the blaze to the water source, fill my nalgine and then treat it with the steri-pen. How much I get depends on how far until the next reliable source. My afternoon follows pretty much the same pattern as the morning with regular breaks. Until about 4:00/4:30 when everything changes. My mind frame, mood and thoughts change drastically. In the morning I am generally happy and feel good about the day. I think about pleasant things, often create journal entries, imagine book proposals or develop characters, remember happy moments. By late afternoon I am usually fit to be tied! I am almost always hot, sweaty, smelly, hungry, grumpy and exhausted. My feet burn and ache and all I long to do is sit down and eat a delicious meal. Afternoons are my darkest hours and I would be lying if I said I enjoyed it or even liked it a little then. The last few miles before I reach Doug are the worst. I question why I'm out here, why I volunteerily gave up the comforts and conveniences of modern life. I curse myself and wonder if I am not the stupidest person on the face of the earth. I wonder what in the heck I could have been thinking when I made the decision to hike the AT. I curse the makers of this god forsaken trail for winding us around and for taking us up every single god forsaken hill and mountain. I invent games to try and make the time pass faster--the ABC memory game (I went on a trip and took an alligator. I went on a trip and took an alligator and a bee...)I push the buttons on my watch so it shows all zeros. I do not care to know the time!!! I count caterpillars or airplanes or look for heart-shaped rocks. I sit and call my lifeline to the sane world (though he is almost never home at this hour) Anything but how much more I need to walk and how long it will take.It is a struggle every day. And it's worse when I get to the bottom of an impossibly long and steep hill late in the day, as I nearly always seem to do. I stop and stare, frozen. I am exhausted! Just want to sit and be done. There is no one there to hold my hand or offer a hug of encouragement. There is no one there to root for me, no crowd standing in the woods to urge me on, no signs along the path to congratulate me and say, "look how far you've come!" or "You're doing great!" or "Keep going!" When it comes down to it I am all I have. And in the end I must be able to summon from within the will to go on and then, the strength to actually do it. I'm the little engine that could and I repeat as I struggle up the mountain, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can...." And I must do this many times a day, day after day after day after day. When I finally reach Doug I want to jump for joy! But I've no energy left, and besides, it is just one tiny victory on a long and winding road and I've many many many more days to get through. When I reach Katadin, then I will celebrate. I will clap and shout and cry with relief. For now, I go about finding a spot to set up my tent.And then I eat dinner, which could be a freeze-dried Mountain House meal (my favorite!) or a Lipton side with tuna or ramon noodles. More kool aid. Some cookies. I help Doug hang the bearbag and maybe sit by a fire. Around 8:30 or 9 I call it a day and head to my tent. Then at last I crawl into my sleeping bag and ready myself for sleep. And in the moments before I drift off I recognize my blessings, thank my body for enduring another day and silently acknowledge my success. It is one more day done and one more step closer to the goal that is Katadhin.