Date: 2013-07-03
To: First Time on the AT 
Miles today: 0.0

I'm back and the 60s and 70s of the Michigan weather seems cold in comparison to the 90s and 100s of the Californian desert! Despite all the rounds I sent down range from my M-16 on the various assaults and all the machine guns, rockets, and tanks fired right next to my head (my left ear is still ringing), it seems as if the bulk of the training consisted of enduring extreme heat. Simply sitting out in the sun for a few minutes was enough to make one drenched in sweat, but we did much more than that.Once we had to cram sixteen Marines in an Assault Amphibious Vehicle (AAV) for nine hours while wearing flak jackets and kevlars! The only way we all fit was to have each Marine stick his leg between the legs of the two Marines sitting in front of him. We were waiting for a company attack when, after the engineers breached the obstacle with explosives, we would all run out on shaky legs and attack a hill. Of course, only half of the engineers' explosives blew and they had no way to blow up the rest so after waiting nine hours in the confined and enclosed space of the armored vehicle, the attack was canceled.Another time, the entire battalion was supposed to dig fighting holes in preparation for a defense, but we had to wait for one company to finish training to begin digging. To get a head start, our squad leaders placed us along a line in fire teams so we could begin digging immediately when we received the word. So we sat in the desert waiting. We waited the rest of the afternoon and evening and went to sleep, thinking we would begin the next morning. Morning came and went and still we just sat in the burning sun. A few teams started to construct small structures out of ponchos and poncho liners for shade. Our team followed suit, but it seemed as if the inside of our small structure was even more hot than outside. So I stayed outside in the sun all day long. Later, a Marine informed us that there was a reason why the ponchos had two different sides. The camouflaged side absorbed heat while the other side deflected it. Guess which side we had up! During these many long hours in the desert wilderness, where we had to dig holes in the ground to use the restroom, I longed for simple conveniences. One in particular was extremely difficult to live without. The water we had in our camelbacks could not stay cool. It ranged from warm to hot. I had a few packages of flavored electrolyte powder which made the warm water bearable, but I burned through them in the first few hours. After two weeks of drinking only water, I could only stomach cool water. Cool water or warm gatorade would have made me so happy, but alas, there was only warm water to be had and I thought I was going to break. But I had no option, but to sit and wait for the tedious training to end. Finally, in the evening we got the word that we could start digging and after our fortified position was complete, we took shifts sleeping in our holes and simulated an attack in the morning. By the afternoon our training was over and when we got to Camp Wilson I spent a lot of money on cold gatorades from the PX.      I'm just glad it will never get THAT hot on the Appalachian Trail, but this story reminds me of the first time I hiked the Appalachian Trail back in 2008. I had just finished basic training for the Marine Corps, checked into my unit in Grand Rapids, and had a solid two months off before any other military commitments. At this point I had only lived in the United States for a year and I wanted to experience all that America had to offer. I casually mentioned to a friend the desire to see a black bear in the wild and she casually replied that there were black bears near where she used to live, in North Carolina, in a mountain range called the Appalachians. So I planned a trip and recruited a friend to come along who has often gone adventuring with me.So Tim and I met up with a few friends in North Carolina who dropped us off somewhere where the Trail passed through a road. We knew next to nothing about the Trail, but decided to spend about two weeks hiking and enjoying the nature. We were mostly alone on the Trail, since we were in the south and it was August, when all thru-hikers would be far north. We met a few section hikers and learned a thing or two about the Trail. First of all, we never hung our food and one night some mice picked through our garbage bag full of food. We carried two weeks worth of military rations which severely weighed us down and within a few days we threw over half of the food away. And then there was the water issue.The Appalachian Trail is riddled with shelters at roughly a day's walking distance away from each other. These all have marked blazes to a nearby source of water. Tim and I would fill up our two water bottles each every morning before hiking. One morning we woke up and slowly ambled down the side of the mountain a few hundred meters to where a small mountain stream was supposed to be located, but it was all dried up. If memory serves me correctly, the next water source was about ten miles away so we made sure to ration what water we had left for that distance. I think we each had about 3/4 of a water bottle. It was difficult to take small sips when all we wanted was to gulp it all down while we walked those ten miles. We finished off our water with a mile or two left to walk and by the time we reached the next water source our mouths were as dry as the Californian air. But when we got to the water, it too was all dried up! I couldn't believe it, but the only thing we could do was keep walking. A few miles away and the next water source was mud! It seemed our only hope was to walk to a town. I don't remember how we found this out (although we did get to look at a map a section hiker had at one point), but we knew there was a road in about another ten miles that led to a town a few miles away. I had it set in my mind that we would reach this town and be able to put down all kinds of nice, cold drinks. I imagined soda, juice, chocolate milk, and every kind of flavored drink in existence. These thoughts replayed over and over again in my mind as we walked miles without a drop of water. By the grace of God, we walked by some berries and spent an ample amount of time sucking on the slightly moist goodness. I wanted to stay longer, but Tim urged me on. I think, for him, the berries were merely a tease and all he longed for a substantial drink. We walked on. Every time we wanted to speak, we had to pull our lips apart, as they stuck together in their dryness. At long last, a few miles before the road, we walked by an actual flowing water source and filled our bottles with the dirt-infested water. We gulped it all down, filled up the bottles again and drank again. Nothing ever tasted so good.We decided to walk to the town anyway, since something besides water would be a nice reward after so long of hiking with very little water. The town was more than a couple of miles away. After walking down the road for more than an hour, the sun left, and as we walked in the darkness toward a few scattered lights Tim stopped. I turned around and he informed me that he was done. He said he couldn't walk anymore and didn't want to go to town anymore. This notion sounded ridiculous to me since we had already come so far out of our way and the town was probably just around the next bend. Those drinks that replayed through my mind were within arm's reach and there was absolutely no way I was giving up on them now. Tim had been my roommate for four years and this was only the second time in all that time that we fought. Finally, I convinced him to shuffle along and we made it to the town which was more like a village. On one side of the street was a restaurant, but when we got to the front door, the lights were out, the chairs were on the tables, and a couple of people were sweeping the floor. We peered inside, hoping someone would come to the door, but they never came. We went across the street to a small, privately owned gas station, but the hours listed on the front door were over. We were doomed and I felt like a big idiot. The lights inside were on and on closer inspection we noticed a group of about five old men sitting in the corner in front of a tiny television. They were watching the Olympics. Tim and I waved our arms and they noticed. One man stood up, let us in, and agreed to allow us to purchase a few drinks. I bought a large jug of Sunny D, a Dr. Pepper, and a jug of chocolate milk. The man who rang us up asked, "'all 'een eeny bla' bars awt ear?" He was without a doubt, the most difficult English-speaker to comprehend that I have ever encountered, and I've had to decipher plenty of foreign accents in my life overseas and a few very thick British accents. Outside, we sat silently on a bench and downed our drinks. Then we stood up, stretched, and began walking back toward the Trail.And before the two weeks were up, we managed to witness two baby black bear cubs before they scampered away from us, out of sight into the woods.