Date: 2015-09-25
From: Stealth Camp by Mary Joe Road

To: shelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: light rain

When I woke up it was cold and quite windy. Again, I struggled with sleeping. I don't know why I can't seem to sleep anymore, I have always been a pretty good sleeper. I stayed in my bag and thought about my actual bed, less than a week away from me. I am continuing to have very mixed feelings about this hike being over. Back a few months ago, when I met 2014 thru hiker Red Robin, she talked about how she wanted to yo-yo when she reached Katahdin. At the time, I thought that sounded crazy. I was thinking that when the hike was over I would run-not walk-to the airport to get home. Now here I am, completely seduced by the stunning beauty of the 100 Mile Wilderness into thinking that this is something I would like to continue for another 6 months. I can compare it to childbirth. After that baby has been cooing at you for a few months, labor and delivery seem like a pleasant memory. Lets do it again!I made some coffee and oatmeal and filtered some water. It is nice that there is so much water here. I don't have to carry more than a liter at a time, so that really helps with the pack weight. My pack is starting to feel normal-heavy as I have eaten through more than half of the food. My plan today is to get as far as I possibly can so that I can finish the Wilderness at Abol Bridge tomorrow. I have to cover over 40 miles today and tomorrow to make that happen. Katwalk will be in Millinocket tomorrow night.I headed out, feeling strong except for my left foot. It continues to be the debbie downer of my body. I actually spoke to my foot last night. As an employer of teenagers, I still like the tried and true sandwich approach: Praise, critique, praise. Foot, you have been a champ. You have walked over two thousand miles. Thank you. I want to talk to you about your swelling and whining about pain though. There is no way that we, the rest of the body parts, are stopping now. We have all walked the same miles and we do it without complaint. We know you can do this too! Just suck it up foot, and march on! You can complain or you can smell bad, but you can't do both and you already really stink so shut it! Thank you foot- for being strong and part of the team!So, I headed out, not allowing myself to limp because I believe giving in to limping creates other problems in knees or wherever, so I focus on a normal footfall. After a few minutes, the foot stops complaining and the hike is nice. I have come to believe that a very strong indicator of success on this trail is the hikers tolerance for pain. I have always had a high threshold for pain, and other hikers I see now do as well. C.Shell hiked through Kidney stones-actually hiked with them for more than a week, then came back and hiked a few more weeks after the emergency room visit. At this point in the hike, our September phase, we are like old people. We compare injuries. I know several hikers with fractured bones in their feet, one hiker with 3 cracked ribs, lots of people with knee braces, a hiker in a boot, and I saw a hiker with a cast on his arm yesterday. I am pretty sure I have a small fracture somewhere in this foot, but I am putting off the X-ray until I get home. It has been a problem for 3 months but with the never ending "lets go home" dialog in my head earlier on, the last thing I wanted in the mix of my human justification powers was an endorsement from a Dr to quit.The only people this must sound like fun to are people who want to thru hike the Appalachian Trail.The hike was very nice today. It ran next to the creek for a long ways, it was fairly smooth, with only a few rocks and roots. A couple of small ups and downs did not tax me too much. I kept my pace easy, trying to give my feet a break. I continue to be really taken with the scenery here. The woods are so deep, so quiet. The colors on the rocks and in the trees are random but organized. Greens and browns dominate, but vibrant splashes of color in mushrooms and leaves changing color accent every scene. Clearly Mother Nature and Martha Stewart have some decorating skills in common.I really love Maine.I hiked all day, the time actually went by quickly. I enjoyed my hike and I was also happy to reach the shelter. I saw people I knew there, flip floppers I met in PA, plus a thru-hiker and two section hikers on their first night out.They had a nice fire going. I set up my tent and came back to the fire to cook my dinner, The thru hiker was a chef and he was cooking up mushrooms he found on the trail. They were so delicious. If I ever do anything like this again I am going to educate myself about these things; mushrooms, plants, flowers. I could have been eating mushrooms since GA, but I don't know anything about them. We chatted and laughed, comparing bear stories and injuries. I thought back to the climb out of the NOC over 2000 miles ago, when Sobo Hobo drifted in to the shelter. I was so mesmerized by his lean hikerness and wondered if I would ever attain that aura. Tonight, as I whipped up my dinner and ate it in the time it took the section hikers to find their stove in their gigantic packs, I thought, yes. I am a thru hiker. I stink, I'm skinny, I do theses camp things without thinking. I feel calm and connected, I feel confident and like I belong on this trail. The transformation is complete.I have come a long way from the 50 pounds overweight woman with price tags on her gear standing on Springer-winded form the little climb up. As I settled in my tent, I thought about D.No and C.Shell. They have been communicating with me and cheering me on. I miss them so much- they were such a huge part of this hike. D.No still can't walk on the injured foot without pain and limping. I think they will feel the pull to come back and do the last 200 miles.I pictured my kid's and husbands faces as I fell asleep. I can't wait to see them.