Date: 2013-03-27
To: View Entry
Miles today: 0.0

T minus five days and counting until blast off from Springer Mountain. I am gripped by a lethargy so profound I could almost call it ennui. Meanwhile, the trail is still gripped by a winter that won't let go. What is going on here? Neither of these things are as they should be!   My to-do list is much shorter and actually appears reasonable. Nevertheless, I really should be up doing....something. There are still lots of things that I could and should be doing. Practicing my bear bag hanging, for example. I'm terrible at it. Hiking up and down the local hills. Even just hitting a few warrior poses to strengthen those groin and thigh muscles that I profess to be so worried about. So why am I just sitting here? The excuse-making part of my brain is trying to tell the more realistic part that I am just "saving up" my strength for the strenuous days ahead--as if strength is something like money in a bank, that if you don't spend today has earned a little interest by tomorrow. But the realistic part is not fooled, and has taken to name-calling. (It may be realistic, but that doesn't make it mature.) Maybe I'm just a little overwhelmed? Whatever, I've decided to just give in to the lethargy and give it another try tomorrow. I'm about to go get some food and settle in to watch a couple of movies and waste the rest of the day. I have a couple of good ones--"Scent of a Woman" from Netflix and "A Man For all Seasons", borrowed from my pastor.    But tomorrow---I have to address my pack. I finally got it fully packed and it weighed in at 24 pounds. That is with food, but without water, cell phone and charger, and the 3/4 length self-inflating pad I am thinking of taking for extra insulation in the hammock for the rest of the winter. That is not a terrible weight, but I would love to be able to shave a couple of pounds off, and I should be able to--but where? It seems very minimal to me. I can probably take out some of the food, and maybe cut my comb in half. But you see how it is? I have such little "fluff" in the pack that half a comb seems like a solution.   And then there's the weather. There is STILL snow on the trail, and hikers are being encouraged to get off. I have been reading a few trail journals, and it seems that everyone is holed up in motels or hostels. When will it end? There are going to be so many people on the trail that it will seem like .. like...a crowded trail. You see there, my lethargy has crept so deeply into my brain I can't even think up a, a, what do you call it when one thing seems like another thing? Oh, man, it's getting worse!   Here's the plan: We can go to church for Easter on Saturday night. I actually love the Easter vigil better anyway, candles, symbolism, sigh, just lovely. That way we will get an early start Sunday. Take the dogs to the kennel (bye Mick and Harry! Love you!) and be in Dahlonega before noon. Sign in at the park, pack weigh-in, etc. Stop by the Hiker Hostel to ensure that everything is in order for the slackpack to start the next day. Then check in at the motel. Three of my four children and all six grandchildren live close enough that they are coming to Dahlonega. We can have a nice family dinner and Easter egg hunt. Probably drive them to show them the trail, somewhere accessible like Woody Gap. Then they all go home and it's just me and the hubby, St. Mike, at the motel for the night. He will drive me to the top in the morning, where I will meet up with my fellow slackpackers from the Hiker Hostel and---off I go.    Five more days. Think I'll have a cheeseburger and watch a movie.