Date: 2004-05-17
From: Updates?

To: John Hollow Shelter
Miles today: 1.7
Weather: light rain

I can't say I felt great when I woke up. I didn't feel horrible either. My temperature seemed to have subsided but I still felt weak.    I needed more sleep.   Trail Days definitely screwed me up, but now was not the time to get more sleep. Now was the time to get in the car because Heather and Arwen need to get back on the trail too. Though I planned on attempting almost 20 miles today in order to stay ahead of everyone, I figured I could take a nap at the shelter located only 1.7 miles north of the James River, where I left off five days ago. Depending on what time I started hiking and how long of a nap I needed, I could always stop at the second shelter hiking only a total of 10.5 miles, or I could stop somewhere in between the second and third shelter and pitch my tent.   We drove into the parking lot adjacent to the James River; it was time to say our goodbyes.    It's hard to find the right words to describe this moment. I guess it was just...i don't know...confusing? Arwen and Heather had become more than just hiking partners to me. Sure I had hiked with people other than them, but I had hiked with them much more than anyone else. Here we stood, saying goodbye, and yet it still wasn't sinking in that this was going to be the last time I would see them. And even though I knew they were two days ahead of me and that the chances of me ever catching up to them were slim due to their plan to hike big miles EVERY DAY so they could finish with time to spare by September 1st (the day they had to report back to the daily grind), it still just didn't make sense. It didn't all fit together in my mind.   Hugs, good luck wishes, and waves 'goodbye.'    As they pulled away in the car, I started to feel very uneasy. Here I was just being dropped off on the side of the road all by myself and I'm about to walk alone into the woods. I had no idea where the nearest hikers were located now that I was seperated from my friends while they participated in Hardcore. I felt lonely. I felt vulnerable.    And more than anything else, I felt too damn tired to care.                                 *      *      *       I woke up from my nap at the first shelter to the sound of voices approaching the shelter from the short blue-blazed trail that leads back to the AT. Around the corner came Tinder with three friends of his from school who were joining him for a week-long hike.    Amanda, Sarah, and Kari.    Life wasn't so bad after all.   Bandicoot also showed up and we all discussed what we would do: hike further or stay put for the night. The nap wasn't enough and I still felt weak. I decided I would do whatever they did.    Bandicoot decided he would hike, as he was trying to get in bigger miles also, and Tinder and the girls decided to stay put. I was going to have to make up my own mind.   I guess it was around that time that the rain started.   We said "Goodbye" to Bandicoot as he took off up the mountain in the pouring rain.    As we prepared our dinners, we saw the first flash of lightening, soon followed by a loud crash from the heavens above. Ten minutes later, we heard the click-clacking of trekking poles coming from up the trail.   "I got about halfway up the mountain and thought, 'What the hell am I thinking?'" Bandicoot would be joining us for the night.   I was surprised to find that I couldn't finish my dinner. Tinder was unable to finish his as well, so I thought nothing of it. Perhaps my appetite had returned to normal after taking 5 days off for Trail Days. I waited for the rain to let up a little and then walked into the woods behind the shelter where I lifted a rock, dug a hole, and buried my leftovers.    A planned 20 mile day has been reduced to 1.7 miles. Tomorrow, I'll do 18 mile day. That will still keep me ahead of my friends as I had planned.