Date: 2012-06-29
From: Canopus Lake, Clarence Fahnestock State Park

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 13.8
Weather: clear sky

It rained last night which means I slept well. It also means that I slept in as I am never in any rush to get wet. happily though the rain cleared by 7 but at this point I had committed to a late start so took my time, charged my phone and headed over to the concession stand where i spent some time journaling and washing out the cuts and scrapes on my leg from my fall. they are getting infected and I'm trying to clean them out and Neosporin them before it gets worse. By the time I had finished all this it was close to opening time at the concession stand so of course i had to get a breakfast sandwich. It was actually really good and fairly priced. No Sweat, a thru hiker i had met in Greenwood Lake was there and we sat for a long time chatting, neither of us particularly motivated to get going this morning. I ended up heading out late around 11 and slowly walking through another hot day. logically i know that i should try to head out early on these days but they slow me down so much and drain me that i often just want to enjoy my cooler mornings. Talking with the other hikers, I know that the heat seems to take it out of all of us and I am just thankful that in general I stand it better than most. I'd rather have this heat than the cold of the first month out on the trail. The trail itself had some nice pre PA sections which was a relief. During many of our nightly discussions with other thru hikers, we talked about how frustrating it is that on this terrain we feel like we should be flying except for two things. first is the heat. and second is that we are all still bruised and worn down from the rocks of PA. Perhaps some of us took it better than others, but by and large the general consensus is that PA broke us and we're just trying to limp along hoping our bodies will repair some on this nicer trail. The shelter was very buggy so we all retreated to our tents and bug netting forcefields early on. Before that though I had a great time talking with Wille from Vermont who had hiked out a second sandwich from the deli and was too full to eat half so gave it to me. Yay. Thank you so much! and I also had a surprise when a hiker who looked very familiar to me sat down. after introductions were made we realized we had met once before down south at Clingmans Dome. Ha with all of our different time off and pace we never saw oe another after that until just now. It was great to catch up with him and learn what was going on with a lot of the people I'd hiked with back then. Some of them are hurt and healing up off trail, others ahead and behind. and then there is always the news of who has decided to leave the trail for good. I always have mixed emotions about this since I understand and fully support people making the best decision for them, but I also hope that they won't regret it, that they have taken away from this something that will be good for them for the future, and I wish them the best. But I will miss running into them too and it is simply hard to hear that we've lost another one as we move north and the pack thins out. for now, I'm happy. off to escape the bugs.