Date: 2010-04-11
From: Hot Springs

To: campsite near Fox Cabin Gap
Miles today: 18.7

What a day, what a day!Let's sit down and have a chat, just you and me. Come closer and I'll tell you a secret. Notice that I did 18.7 miles today? Yes, it's true - I'm hiking fast trying to catch my friends. It's funny, because this is exactly what I came out here not to do. One of my reasons behind my hike is to have a time in my life where I make decisions only for myself. Here's the thing, though - all of the decisions I make are still for me, but I've learned that sometimes what I want is catching up to my friends. In my month on the trail (yup, that's today!) I've had several big realizations. One of them that, quite frankly, surprised me is the great importance of people in my life. Family and friends have always held the top spot of importance in the big picture, but not necessarily on a day to day basis. I've gotten very used to living alone and at times, spend a week or better seeing no one except co-workers. Looking back, I think this has been a hole in my life that I didn't know was there. On the trail, I seem to see everything more simply and more clearly. I relish the hiking and occasional evenings by myself, but hiking up to a shelter and seeing good friends there immediately lifts my spirits and makes my grin even bigger. They bring a huge amount of joy to my hike that wouldn't be there otherwise. I just had a huge epiphany as I'm writing - I've come, over the last few years, to view needing people as a weakness. This is simply not true, is it?So, back to the trail. In taking a zero and a nero in Hot Springs, I got behind most of my closest friends. I think that some are about 1/2 - 2/3 of a day ahead, and some are about 1.5 ahead. The group that's 1.5 (Beefstick, Roughin' It, Aikido Jo, Donner, & Sherlock) is really fast anyway, so it's highly unlikely that I'll catch any of them again until they take a zero. Longhaul, Dirt Stew, Dormouse, and iTrod, however, shouldn't be too far ahead of me. So, for now, I'm going to shoot for some big miles to catch up. I couldn't get on the trail until about 10:30. It was hard to say goodbye to Dad, but these things tend to work themselves out when there's nothing to do but put one foot in front of the other. I felt great hiking today! My new Montrails are wonderful. At first, my legs felt more tired, but that has gotten much better as I got used to the change throughout the day. Though I took a long break to read up at a firetower, I eventually got more motivated and cranked out the miles. I hiked and hiked, feeling great, and pulled into Little Laurel Shelter around 5:15. I got water and took a nice break, heading onward around 6. My Companion said that there were water sources 3 and 4.5 miles past the shelter. I planned to camp at one of these. I passed up a good spring and campsite about 2 miles past the shelter, because I had time and energy to go further. That is the last decent water source I passed today. As it turns out, the next few miles held incredibly difficult trail, climbing up and over huge rocks and scrambling over a high, exposed ridge. Although I had to hike it very slowly, it was extremely beautiful! I hiked on, hoping for a water source as dark grew near. I got to watch the sun go down from the highest point on the ridge. Then, I stopped to get out my headlamp to keep hiking just as people in the populated valley below turned on their lights, as well. I got off the rocky trail just as darkness set in. I stopped and decided that I was about 2 miles from the shelter and should just hike on. A few minutes later, though, I was wowed by the lights across the valley, the flat area just up and to my right, and my desire not to hike another almost 2 miles in the dark. I decided to forget the water and just stop right there. I pulled in around 8:40. Here I am, cowboy camping (ie, no tent), alone for the first time on my thru-hike. I pulled out things from my food bag that didn't need water - an Odwalla bar, trail mix, dried apples, freeze dried bananas, and a yummy freeze dried ice cream sandwich. Not the best dinner in the world, but it'll do. It's very peaceful here, and i am surprisingly not in the least bit freaked out. I'll get an early start in the morning and head to the shelter for water. It's been a big day! Postscript, March 11, 2011: It was so empowering cowboy camping solo that night!