Date: 2010-07-25
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Miles today: 0.0

I didn't think someday would arrive so quickly.I got my trail name from Chet in New Hampshire. Looking back on it, I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner: I was always saying "Someday I'll be able to climb mountains without feeling like I'm dying," or "Someday I'll get my trail name." Chet looked at me and told me he thought I just got mine. So I became Someday.I left Harpers Ferry last year in early October. It had been a slow start to a thru-hike, characterized by everything that could possibly go wrong actually going wrong. In the first 1,150 miles, Hungry Creepster and I had to deal with:*the rainiest season on record near Bangor, Maine. Translation: it rained every day for a month. If it didn't pour during the day, it poured during the night. Everything was wet. The trail was a stream. I was not a happy camper. *bloody, stumpy feet. I wasn't doing so hot. Half the time I was hobbling as opposed to hiking. Contrast that with Hungry Creepster who could leap up rocks that I had to practically pole-vault across.*gear malfunctions. Meaning: our Steripen died on day 2 of the Hundred Mile Wilderness. My shoes had holes in them after ten days. The cell phone died. We got our peanut butter lodged in a tree. Okay, that wasn't technically a gear malfunction.*each other! We didn't really know what we were getting into, hiking together like we chose to do. Had we known, it likely wouldn't have happened because I'm a putz and Creepster hikes with super-sonic speed and strength. I love misty days and Creepster loves horridly sunny and warm days. Thank goodness we didn't know how opposite we are.We also got to deal with the absolute BEST of times:*people. I have had my faith in humanity completely restored. People are good, kind, generous, interesting, and inspiring. The strangers, the brave souls who survived the stench of two hitch-hikers in their cars, the fellow hikers, the trail angels, the folks back home who supported us with encouragement . . . absolutely unbelievable!*trail magic. This sort of belongs in the "people" category but is its own entity. Trail magic came whenever we needed it. How else could we have hitch-hiked to the Harry Potter midnight movie premier 50 miles away?*nature. Moose, various scat, amazing vistas, rolling hills, perfect Vermont lakes, rocky mountains, roaring rivers, quaint towns, country roads . . . New England and the Mid-Atlantic states are beautiful!*each other! Hiking with someone for three and a half months is an awesome way to make a best friend. Hungry Creepster and I went from barely-to-best friends very quickly, and we have so many inside jokes that we will always think are funny. We might just be too easily amused.After months of knee pain, I left the trail. Hungry Creepster adopted Pomegranate Monster and continued south. I returned home to Minnesota and dreamed that someday I would finish the Appalachian Trail. Someday again! It has been my dream since third grade. And as happy as I am that my little stuffed Pomegranate made it to Springer, I want to get there too.I got a job at a college in the Twin Cities. It was a fun gig because of summers off, a varying work schedule, and good people. But pretty soon, many of the good aspects of it started to slip away. Having money and knowing what you are living for don't always go together. A far more meaningful life can be found when we choose to do what we are called to do rather than what calls us. And so I find myself nearing the end of summer with no job, a small savings (due more to a summer job at my sister's than my old job), and a 15-year-old dream. Someday has arrived, and it's time to complete my 2009 - 2010 Appalachian Trail SOBO thruhike. Hurrah!