Date: 2013-04-09
From: Standing Bear Farm

To: Groundhog Creek Shelter
Miles today: 6.9
Weather: few clouds

Day Thirty Two - Standing Bear Farm to Groundhog Creek ShelterSleeping in a bunk house we all woke up pretty early. Since there was a freezer full of food I decided to buy something instead of oatmeal. Hikers need between 4000 to 6000 calories a day to maintain weight (I know that sounds crazy but I've seen guys who are eating way more than 4000 calories an they can't keep their pants on because they've lost so much weight). I don't think I've eaten even 4000 calories a day yet (maybe in town) but I'm off to a good start this morning. I had a 900 calorie breakfast and I'm still hungry! I put my trail mix on the outside of my pack for easy access. We started out with a six mile climb today. Of all places on the trail this would be the best place for a zip line to go from the top of the last mountain to the top of the giant climb today, it would be awesome! On one of our many breaks today (I was laying on the trail with my pack as a pillow) we met "Masseuse" and she is going to hike with us for the next couple if days. She carries around a lacrosse ball to massage out her muscles at the end of the day. She did my shoulders and legs and it was amazing! When we got to the top there was a FAA tower and again the views were incredible. We chatted away the whole way down to the shelter and Backtrack was here waiting for us. There are ten people here tonight (the shelter holds six but being out of the smokies I can finally hang again) and guess what? There are five girls here! Half of us are girls! The woods might not be a mans world anymore! There is a mans privy here though cause there is no way that a woman would design something that looks like this one! My hammock is hung alongside a stream and as I lie here and reflect I can hear the water falling over the rocks and a woodpecker that doesn't know that it's past his bedtime. It is so beautiful here. I've been on the trail for a month now and I can't believe how much I am loving it! At first I noticed all the obvious things like how awesome it is to be surrounded by mountains or how big they are, or how good/bad the weather is or how cool the cloud shadows are but now I notice the tiny baby ferns growing, or the gradual changes in the landscape or the spiderwebs on the side of the trail. It is so relaxing to be out here and even some of the things that seem like hardship or challenges during the day disappear completely when you get to the top of a mountain and see how far you have come or when you make it to a shelter at the end of the day. When I meet another hiker for the first time (whether on the trail or in town) there is an instant connection and acknowledgement because regardless of how different you are you have been through the exact same thing on the trail. It's too bad we don't treat one another like this at home, at work or in our communities. Here we are all equals on every level. Status, money, religion, age, education they all mean NOTHING on the trail, imagine a world like that!Confessions of a thruhiker:How to unfreeze olive oil "put it between your thighs and wait."Trouble 'Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life' John Muir Our National Parks