Date: 2016-05-24
From: Peter Mountain Shelter

To: Rausch Gap Shelter
Miles today: 18.3
Weather: overcast clouds

Today was a big miles day. We all planned to do 18 the day before. I woke up this morning not even wanting to walk. I knew today was going to be absolutely terrible. I cleaned my blisters and taped them up first thing. I knew I didn't want to do any excess walking. I loaded my pack and hobbled down the steps and around the shelter to get my food bag from the bear box. I could feel my skin separating and reopening my wounds on both my heels. It was so awful. What hurt even more was putting on my wet socks and then shoving my swollen, blistered feet into my wet shoes. I thought today was going to be unbearable, but to my surprise, my feet didn't rub as badly as I expected they would. I said bye to the boys and ate a pop tart on my way out. I limped the entire day, but I pushed through. Baloo passed by me shortly, then Hootie was the second to pass me. He always has a smile on his face and is in the best mood. I love that about him.. Can't wait for that to be me again once my pain is gone! He is just a ray of sunshine that rubs off on everyone.. And not the annoying kind haha. Everyone else eventually followed suit in passing me. I did get to see a deer close up today. She didn't run away and I was able to take a few pictures. Later I passed the boys trying to catch fish with some line the untangled from a tree. I heard later on that Hootie actually caught one! That's pretty cool. I hiked on, knowing that I needed to go if I wanted to make it to Rausch by dark. I was in so much pain from my feet, moving very slowly, walking uphill and completely out of breath when a man -possibly by the name double digits- passed me. He tried to talk to me, but I just couldn't keep up a conversation. I was kind of rude to him and I felt really bad, I hope to see him in the future so I can apologize. I just never considered myself a strong person. Im such a baby, I'm scared of everything, my pain tolerance is so low. When I'm going through stuff, I'm really going through it! My emotions are always written on my face and I can't fake anything.. I just am in the mood I'm in when I'm in the mood I'm in. So if I feel defeated, I'm not acting super positive and am happy about the future. I feel everything intensely and I sit through it. I knew I'd make it through today, but that didn't make me feel any better in the moment I was in. That's just how I am. So I feel bad that I wasn't my usual bubbly, talkative self when that man passed me by. Hopefully I can make up for it in the future!Anyways, shortly after he passed me I came across a ginormous timber rattle snake!! It had about 6-7 rattles, it was mainly all black with very light, almost faded gray diamonds. I was on the phone with my sister when it Happened and my immediate thought was "omg it's a rattlesnake!" I told her it has the tail like a rattler, with the rings and all. But she didn't understand the way I described it and she said it might not be one. I got off the phone with her so I could take a pic before it slithered away. The snake just sat there. It didn't move its tail, it didn't coil up. It just stared at me and didn't move. I took a couple videos and some pictures. Looking back, I was probably way too close to this deadly snake. But it was so chill and not aggravated or in defense mode so I thought it might not be a rattler. We all decided later it was. I wanna say it was 3 or 4 ft long. And pretty thick around. Maybe it had just eaten and that's why it was just chillin. I've never seen a snake out in the wild that big before, but I keep hearing rumors and seeing other people's videos so I know bigger and scarier is still up ahead!I stopped for lunch at a little creek. I took off my shoes and propped up my feet. Trying to ease the pain. I was shocked at how far I had come with how insanely painful my foot problem was last night and that morning. I hung out for about 45 min then I hit the trail. The trail began to get boring and I couldn't listen to music in order to preserve my battery, so I began to sing the 99 bottles of beer song. (By the end of the day, I had sung it 3x. )About 5 miles away from the campsite, Obi comes walking up. He slowed down and hung out with me and we talked and walked together. On one of our breaks, I spoke without thinking and I asked him if there were any other guys on the trail like him and Wet Beard. I immediately regretting saying it and he didn't understand what I meant by that. I didn't even understand what exactly I meant by that at the time. He's just this certain type of person that I expected before coming out here. Luckily, we worked through the awkward moment and moved on from the topic. I never was able to give him an explanation. We hung out for a couple miles, but he left me with about 2 miles left. Me being me, I dwelled on my idiotic comment for the last 4 miles of the trail (which felt incredibly long since I had never hiked that far in my life with a pack and blistered feet). I kept repeating my stupidity over and over in my head, trying to understand what the heck I meant by it. It occurred to me finally, that it's mainly his familiarity. He's the first person I've come across that's been in the military, and he also reminds me a little bit of my guy friend who did the trail and told me all about the AT. The people out here are much more diverse than I expected, not like I expected there to be only dark haired, bearded, military dudes out here; I didn't even consciously realize that I stereotyped the trail to having a common type of person out here. Either way, what it boils down to is his company and familiar-ness. It's crazy how when you're away from your friends and family for so long that when people remind you of home, it just gives you a comforting feeling. Makes you feel more safe. When I finally reached my explanation, I tried to be easy on myself for the rest of the day; relax a little bit, but the thoughts steadily churned in my mind for the next 2 days.Moving on, I walked and I walked and I walked. To the point you feel like your feet will fall off, or you just want someone to chop them off. I got down a hill and saw a dark something. I rejoiced hoping it was the shelter, but sadly it wasn't. I couldn't take it anymore. I pulled of my shoes and put on my flip flops. I tucked my socks in my shoes and I held them with my fingers and my trekking poles. I whimpered and hobbled, whimpered and hobbled. I got farther down the hill and the view was so nice. The water rushed by, there were a couple water falls, then a nice big camp ground appeared and I saw England! He told me the shelter was .3 up the hill. I was glad to know, but still devastated about going .3 more. I almost gave up and camped right there with him, but he likes his privacy and I wanted to see my group. I eventually made it there and I couldn't have been happier to see all my friends sitting around the campfire. We all hung out and talked, my big smile quickly returned. It felt so good to be with everyone. A little later, a girl named Toothpick joined us. She's really cool. Tonight I had to hang my food from a tree, which was awful. There were zero low branches and the ones that were low, were on a steep hill. It was not easy, thankfully Fiber helped me a great deal. I had to chase after my shoe that went rolling down a ways, then climb with my hands, knees and feet just to get back up. Not fun after a grueling day. I made it through, as always. It was a really lovely campsite. Very pretty and picturesque. I fell asleep very shortly after I got in my tent. 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