Date: 2019-04-03
To: View Entry
Miles today: 108.6

The AT has a lot of ups and downs. ("Pretty funny there, Legacy.") There are the usual ones involving life, there are the ones due to carrying everything you need on your back, and there are the mountains on the AT, and you get to navigate them all. After I left Fontana Dam, I entered the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, and my mileage varied as I moved through some difficult terrain.One day was particularly difficult. In 2011, I had surgery due to prostate cancer. Usually that presents no problems...except...when...I backpack. The pack's hipbelt presses where I normally don't have pressure, and when I tire, it causes leakage, and can hit suddenly and frequently. Not every day, but some days. It's not like I'm a dog marking every tree, but when it hits suddenly and I have the choice between marking a tree or my pants, I will choose the tree every time.Anyway, it struck during one day that had many climbs as I tired. To "stem the tide", so to speak, I reduced my water intake on a warm day, which caused a headache, a painful one. By the end of the day, I was exhausted, dehydrated, had a painful headache, was too tired to socialize during dinner, and did not sleep much that night due to the headache. In the morning, I felt low, and went behind the shelter to cry several minutes (not my normal way of dealing with stress), big tears of self-pity. Well, later, when the Excedrin eased my headache and I was on the trail, things improved. That was probably the lowest point on the AT for me so far.The hardships are balanced by glories. My mileage varies but has grown lately, and I am handling it better, even in the arduous terrain of the Smokies. The trails and mountains are beautiful in the mornings (hmmm...I don't appreciate them as much in the late afternoons), and there are numerous, fun stream crossings with gurgling water. My favorite day so far was hiking out of the Smokies in falling snow that seemed magical. On cold mornings, there can be shards of frost poking out of the ground which look like blades of grass chiseled from ice.There are a steady stream of characters I have met on the trail: Zach and TBone, Snow Cream, Barefoot, Strikeout, Free, Firefly, Further and General Lee, and as my mileage increases, I see them more often. Occasionally, there is something that puzzles me that provides fodder for thought as I hike. One example was a weekend hiker in his 50-60's that said the year before he met a young woman on the AT and hiked for 5 months "at their own pace" (no word was said about what his wife thought about that), but then later complained about "you f*ing thru-hikers", a group he apparently was a member of just the previous year. Knowing that I live my life differently, and spend my money differently, than other people - which has allowed me the opportunity to hike the AT - I have always tried to be tolerant of other people, but the AT is making me see that I can do better.After 3 1/2 weeks on the AT, I fell for the first time. This by itself is noteworthy, because as my daughter Kelsey can attest, I probably average one fall per High Peak in the Adirondacks when we hike. So what caused it? Was it the terrain on the trail, what sometimes is called "rocks and roots", or maybe the slippery..."whoops"...mud the last few days where a foot skis underneath you? No, it was at a rare section where the AT was next to a road. Some debris, a circular piece of wire, ensnared both my feet and I immediately tumbled. The danger lies not in the forests but in modern society's debris!Some good news lies just ahead! They say that you get your trail legs at 300 miles on the AT. 300, mind you, not 301 or more. Well, I am in Hot Springs taking a zero today, and I am starting to feel like Joe Namath ("I can't wait until tomorrow, 'cause I get better lookin' every day.") I am at mile mark 275, and that means that in the next couple of days, a miracle is going to occur, and suddenly, very suddenly, I am going to get what you can't buy at REI: TRAIL LEGS! I sure hope they don't run out of them when they're handing them out and I'm next in line, because I need them a lot more than these young bucks!Hot Springs also represents a milestone of a different sort. They say that 50% of thru-hikers never make it the 275 miles to Hot Springs, so that makes me feel good: I like being in the top half of the class. Of course, to be a true thru-hiker, you have to be in the top 20%, the percentage who actually make it to Katahdin. That tells me that 60% of the thru-hikers that make it to Hot Springs fail to finish - and there are a lot more than 275 miles to go. Still, we are to savor every day, because of the 5 million steps to complete the AT, any single misstep could knock you off the trail.The AT is difficult, but continues to evolve, and each day is different. I continue to be blessed with good weather - I consider the weather to be good as long as it's not raining. My wife, at Command Central, continues to be a positive contributing factor as I make my way north on the AT. My thanks to all who have shared their thoughts in the guest book.