Date: 2009-04-20
From: Mountaineer Shelter, TN (NO MORE NC!!) 

To: Dennis Cove, USFS 50, TN 
Miles today: 15.6

Cell noneOG notesWe realized that we need to hike a few less miles per day in order to stay healthy. I think we got carried away in the moment and kept trying to do more than we really should. We pushed hard through the Smokies and then kept pushing with the snow north of the Smokies. I guess we figured, we can do 16 to 18 mile days so we'll keep doing them. What we have accomplished is to physically and emotionally exhaust ourselves. I somewhat had us doing similar miles as the 2006 hike. We are not able to do that and we have to reajust our schedule. When I say we I mean both of us, I don't know how I did the miles back then. I guess 3 years makes a big difference.We'll be progressing a little slower than expected. This will throw a monkey wrench into our Memorial Weekend plans some. We'll have some coordination issues we weren't planning on. We'll have to wait and see what happens.We are at the Kincora hostel tonight. We were one of the last ones to get here and all the inside space was taken. We're in our tent just outside the hostel door. Today is the third anniversary of the last time I was here. It was packed then too, the only difference was I got here early enough to get a bed inside then.Part of trail life is the experiences you have with other people. Who gets to the resting spot first and who gets there last. Most of the experiences are great, some stink. I'm hoping the crowd will thin out and the competition for space will die down.I heard someone say we might see snow again in a few days. I hope that doesn't happen, we've seen enough of it already. We are further north now, almost to Virginia, so I guess it's possible to see snow.Some folks are talking of switching to their summer gear already. We're not talking like that though. We may send a piece or two home in a while but we'll transition slowly. We'll probably make the complete changeover Memorial Day weekend.It's amazing how being in civilization changes everything. It's 9:45 and we're still awake, if we were in the woods we'd be asleep by now. Life is so different out on the trail than it is in the real world. Sometime more simpler, sometimes more complex. With that said it's time to say as George Burns used to say "Say Goodnight Gracy". C6 notesFull house at Bob People's hostel tonight. There are a couple folks who have been here 3 days, and lots of us who came in today. Unfortunately, we are slower hikers than the young kids, so we are in our tent on the hostel grounds, and it's raining. We showered and washed our clothes though, and can use the bathrooms any time we need to...a million times better than using a shovel in the woods.I was extremely discouraged today. I have new aches and pains in my feet and problems with the pack and my shoulders still. I expected most of those issues to be resolved by now. After all, we are in our 6th week of hiking! I feel as if I'm slowing down on the uphills and losing speed on the easy downs and flat hiking because of my feet aches and pains. The frustration makes me very emotional, and I keep expecting OG to get tired of my emotions. He wants to fix everything for me, but he can't, so it's frustrating for him, too. Today, in a moment of frustration, he made a comment about wondering if I'm making up reasons to want to stop hiking. I got extremely mad at that. I'm not making up the aches and pains. I don't want to stop. I want to go all the way to Mt Katahdin. It's very hard to hike miles and miles each day with aches, pains, and rain so much of the time. I've often heard, "if this were easy, everyone would do it." Believe me, it's not easy.Old Goat & Check Six