Date: 2006-06-04
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

I¢m writing this on June 4th. My shoulder is still bothering me a little. I did go see my Chinese doctor and she worked on it some (that¢s when it started to get better and I can now sleep on it for a while) so I¢m hoping it will just continue to get better and not give me any trouble on the trial. She said it was the Heart meridian! That doesn¢t surprise me any! Too much heartfire!I¢m often asked what my daily routine is like, so here it is. This may be a bit boring, but for those who want to know¢¦I usually wake up at 6am (I have an alarm set, but the birds wake me up now at 5:30am) first thing is to get out of the sleeping bag and get dressed ¢ I sleep in my sports bra so its no big deal changing clothes in the shelter, pants can be changed in the sleeping bag, but at this point its no big deal ¢ no one really watches as you change clothes. So the first thing of course is a trip to the privy ¢ this means also putting on shoes or sandals. If it¢s cold in the morning (and it was 38* when I got up on 5/24) you also put on a jacket. Then its breakfast time, Get out the jet boil, fill it with about 2 12 cups of water and get it going, Get the food bag down from where ever its hanging. This may be in a tree away from the shelter or more likely from a hook suspended in the shelter. I usually have a cup of tea or cider in the morning, so I pour the boiling water into the cup for tea, and then add the instant breakfast and oatmeal to the jetboil pot, cover it and let it sit while I drink the tea. Depending on how crowded the shelter is can delay some of this stuff. Occasionally you have to wait for space at the table to cook.After breakfast I pack up ¢ I do have to wash out the jetboil after breakfast, so I pour any extra water I have into it and scrub it with a 1¢ X 2¢ piece of a pot scrubby that I have. No soap. I stuff my sleeping bag back into the compression sack, take out the days lunch and snacks and put them in the fanny pack, make sure I have the days itinerary from Wingnuts book in the fanny pack, (I tear out the page I need and have it in a small ziplock bag). Then everything gets stuffed into the back pack or should I say crammed into it? I make sure my watch is attached to the outside of my pack, my bandana is in place, etc, and then it¢s put on the pack and start walking. With the stuff in the fanny pack, I don¢t have to get into my backpack again until I get to my stopping point (unless I need to get more water, and then its another pack explosion). To get water, I have to half empty my pack (the ¢pack explosion¢) to get at my platypus bag in the pocket inside my pack. I also have to fish out my water filter from wherever it got stashed. If the water is a hike off the trail I usually leave my pack near the trail and just take the water bag and filter. Am I worried about my ¢stuff¢ being left alone near the trail? NO. first of all no one wants to carry more than they already have, and, all the really expensive stuff and my money is on me. (fanny pack and pockets) I¢m often on my way by 7 or 7:30am and I walk, and walk, and walk (what else is there to do??) by 8:30 or 9am I¢m getting a bit hungry so I eat a snack while I¢m hiking (M&M¢s are great) ¢ Now, it¢s not always advisable to eat while hiking, I¢m using hiking poles, so it can be hard to juggle food in the hands with the poles when it¢s combined with rough terrain or a steep downhill. I walk, and I walk (you get the picture of that?) If it¢s possible, for lunch I like to stop at a shelter ¢ there isn¢t always one where you want it to be, but often there is. I will stop for an hour (or more) to eat lunch, I like to take off my boots and air out my feet, I¢ll stretch out after eating with my book and put my feet up in the air (really feels good) or if the water is near by I will soak them in the stream (that feels GREAT). Then, I walk some more, and walk some more until I get where I¢m going. This can be anywhere and at anytime, I¢ve quit at lunch time on occasion, or walk till it¢s dark.So what is the walking like? It depends a lot on the terrain; the trail can (rarely) be a very smooth dirt trail that is easy to walk on. It can be granite slabs that are flat or at a 45* angle. It can be very rocky with very little space to put your foot down. The rocks can be small fist size loose rocks, or large irregularly spaced boulders, or it can be huge boulders all tumbled on top of each other. The ground can be covered with leaves so thick you worry that there are rocks hiding under them, or it can be covered in pine needles ¢ if this is on a steep hill, they are very slippery and dangerous. The trail can be covered with poison ivy or beautiful wild flowers. The only thing I can say is that it changes every 10 minutes or so, unless it¢s the rocks I hate, and they can go on for miles and miles. The trail can be a deep gouge in the earth no more than 6 inches wide so it¢s like ¢walking the line¢. Often I have to come to a full stop in order to look around, otherwise I¢d trip and fall. The scenery can be anything at all ¢ views, no views, flowers or the same old same old (trees). If there is a short (less than 14 mile) side trip for a view or waterfall I will often take it, If its longer than that it depends on how much farther I have to go for the day. I try to stop in at all of the shelters along the trail, but some of them are 12 mile or more off the trail ¢ that¢s too far to go to see an empty shelter. There are shelter registers in most of the shelters and its fun to sign them and see who¢s been there and when.I don't really like hiking after about 5:30 pm. so if I'm not close to the shelter at this time I start getting a bit anxious and irritable, I just want to get there already. The trail is NOT fun at that point, I'm tired, cranky, my feet hurt and all I can do is plod on. It's worse when the terrain is difficult. I know there is daylight till after 8pm, but I just like to done by 5:30.When I get to my stopping point at a shelter, first thing I do is dump my pack and grab a spot in the shelter, or, set up my tent if I have to. Next is get water ¢ the water source at shelters can occasionally be a long hike, but most often it¢s fairly close. So its grab the 2 platypus bags and the water filter, change into sandals and find the water, I sit down as it takes about 10 min to filter 4 lt. of water. Then I might soak my feet, and wash my face (no soap) in the stream. Hike back to the shelter and depending on the time, start cooking dinner.When I first get to the shelter, if I¢m really sweaty and its getting cool out, I take off my sweaty shirt and hang it up to dry ¢ I have a few large safety pins that I pin my socks together with to hang them along with the t-shirt. There is usually a bunch a nails in the shelter walls to hang things on. Dinner is ¢ boil about 2 or 3 cups of water, pour the boiling water into the (freezer) ziplock bags that contain dinner and desert, and make a cup of hot chocolate or cider to drink while the dinner is re-hydrating. I have a little ¢bag cozy¢ that is made of lightweight foil insulation material and the freezer bags go in this pouch to re-hydrate. Washing dishes consists of licking my spoon clean! (all I have is one spoon) And I rinse out the cup from my cider and wipe it dry with the bandana. Then its time to just chill out till bed time, we all visit together in the shelter and talk about what¢s going on, how our day was, etc. I often listen to my iPod while working on sudoku puzzles. When it¢s time to crawl into the sleeping bag, I put on my headlight and read for a while. When I go to sleep, I have my pants folded up with my watch sitting on top of them by my head, I have to make sure I have my eye drops right where I can get to them quickly when I wake up because my contacts dry out real bad and are uncomfortable, so the first thing I do when I wake up is put in the drops. I also make sure my headlight and sandals are where I can get to them if I get up at night. ¢ You have to be very organized. Then, I go to sleep, toss and turn most of the night, usually I get up once during the night to go find a bush, and then, and get up to do this all over again the next day.It can become very monotonous, all this walking, and I get very cranky when it's really rocky and difficult to walk. There have been many times that I walk along wondering why the hell I'm doing this, or I will be in tears telling myself that I'm an idiot for putting myself through this. If the hiking is easy, I like to listen to the iPod, Simon & Garfunkel are great for hiking to! they have a great beat, but if the terrain is difficult I turn it off so I can fully concentrate on where I'm planting my feet. I really like it when the terrain changes, and I go through meadows or pretty scenery. Sometimes when going through a lot of open spaces though I feel, not unsafe, but more vulnerable if that makes sence. Its sort of like Bambi - don't go out in the open! There is safety and cover in the woods.