Date: 2017-06-20
From: Salt Log Gap, USFS 63

To: Tye River, VA 56
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: overcast clouds

Earlier in the hike, probably during the days of rain, cold, or hail, one of my sister Diane's friends asked her, "Is Charli stupid or crazy?"   I've been thinking about that.  I'm crazy but not crazier than the other people in the Expedition.  I think a person has to be a bit crazy to complete this hike.   We're now in Virginia in the green tunnel.  Virginia has 558 miles of the Appalachian Trail.  The trail goes up and down mountains and along ridges, mostly through woods that obscure the views of what lies below.  It feels like we're working hard all day with no payoff.  This is a part of the trail where a lot of people quit.  Today I thought a lot about why our little group has not quit, and I think it has something to do with an irrational obsession, a sort of craziness.When I started the hike I told myself that I'd quit if the hike was doing permanent damage to my body.  The day I fell and broke my wrist I was in despair realizing  - for the first time - that I might not be able to finish.  I discovered that day that I no longer was willing to quit even if the hike were going to do me permanent damage.  I'm 900 miles in, and I can't quit.  Crazy.Arlene first became interested in hiking the AT when she saw a National Geographic program about it.  When she attended the Appalachian Trail Institute, the one-week class that Warren teaches, she was happy to find that that the other people there were just as crazy as she was: they all wanted to hike the whole trail.  She traveled from California five times, taking time off from work, to attend the prep hikes.  She has had plantar fasciitis since the beginning of the hike.  Her feet hurt almost every day.  Earlier this week, while we were hiking she told me, "I'm really happy to be here, even though I hurt a lot and cry every day."  Crazy.   Lizzie was closest to quitting when she was hunkered down under a tree during a ferocious thunderstorm.  Lightning hit the other side of the pasture she had to cross.  She huddled there crying and thinking about quitting.  Then she thought, I've just had my very worst day on the AT.  And she decided to stay. Crazy.I asked Bill whether he thought he was crazy to do the hike.  He said yes and no.  Yes because it's dangerous.  During one prep hike he was up on a bald mountaintop during a severe storm.  It was cold and wet;  the wind was so high it was blowing him sideways about eight feet with each gust; fog was coming so that he couldn't see the white blazes on the posts that were the only sign of the trail; he didn't know which road he was supposed to be picked up at.  For several minutes he feared he might die there exposed to the wind and cold on the mountain.  Eventually he saw headlights and realized he was at the pickup point.  The crazy part is that he continued after this experience and is still hiking.  The not crazy part is that he's fulfilling a goal that many people have and do not get to pursue.  He's pursuing his dream, which is absolutely not crazy.  Where I soaked my feet today: Cripple CreekNumber of times in the past 832 miles that I've stopped to get a rock out of my shoe: 3Happy West Virginia Day to all my fellow mountaineers!