Date: 2013-07-31
From: Hanover,New Hampshire

To: Sugar Hill, NH (Home)
Miles today: 0.0
Weather: moderate rain

Wednesday, July 31 Sugar Hill, NH . Zero, day 1 Weather: Sunny and pleasant Hi 73 Lo 56Well today was my first of 11 days off the trail at home. It felt very strange to be home and sleeping in my bed. It felt like walking up Springer Mountain In Georgia back on March 27 never happened and the whole thing ws a dream. As I shook the sleep from my head I asked myself, How did I get here? Did I really walk? As I awoke I began to put together my plan for the day: Wash my tent, backpack, sleeping bag, clothes, all stuff sacks, literally everything I have carried on my back since March.   Also, rest my feet and ankles which really need it. I'm not injured, but I am sore and the days off will do my nagging aches and pains good. Lastly, just enjoy my time at home with Yolanda. That certainly filled the day with goodness. It felt so good to clean everything well and to get off my feet most of the day. Best of all was tie with Yolanda just listening to how her summer has been going. Last night I took a long, hot bath and then a full blown shower but still haven't gotten all the hiker funk out yet. I'll try another long shower today.It has been a beautiful day and not hiking has been very difficult for me but I know there will be plenty of nice days ahead and I need to emerse myself in taking advantage of being home.As I sat thinking last night about my hike so far, I thought a lot about the physical part of the hike. It's not something you think about much on the trail because it can be daunting. Instead you push it aside and just go out and hike your 18 or so miles every day. I thought about the skin on my feet literally falling off early in the hike and blisters the size of silver dollars making every step agonizing. Still, you get up and hike. After a couple of miles it's not so bad, and the alternative is to not hike and have everyone you know move on without you. In the morning your thighs and calfs throb with the pain of asking them to do more than they are ready or able to do, day after day. Your shoulders and back ache as you learn how to adjust your pack properly and begin shedding excess weight in your pack, at any cost. Your hands become numb from the cold and the poor circulation from being below your heart level as you hike with your trekking poles all day. When it starts to rain, you can't even zip up your rain jacket because your fingers don't work from the cold numbness. You haven't felt your toes all day for the same reason and you wonder if they'll be OK. Sometimes it rains for days. Everything in your pack is wet and the only time you start to warm up is when you finally get in your sleeping bag providing you've managed to keep it dry. Getting out of a wet tent on a cold, rainy morning to put on cold wet clothes and hiking shoes is maybe the worst thing ever. Unless, of course it goes below freezing at night and you have to blow into your boots and try to bend them enough to jam your feet into them. But you manage to get dressed, break camp, and start to hike. hiking is your only salvation because it's the only way you will feel any warmth.Then as soon as it's no longer cold it's way too hot. Exhausting days hiking through 95 degree heat, humidity, bugs, rain, mud. Sun beating down on you burning you to a crisp. Terrain that you thought would be easy becomes torturous due to the weather. After a month of that I really was beginning to think I was growing weak or was sick with Lyme disease or something, I felt that bad. You wonder if the weather will be ever just nice. Not very often it seemsWhen I look back on all this from home I realize that one has a tendency to accentuate the negative when your out on the trail on a bad day. In reality all though all of this happens as I described, most days are thouroughly enjoyable depite a little discomfort. Your friends pull you through and you find a great deal of pleasure in the hiking. As soon as we reached Vermont and the weather and terrain improved, I felt better than I had the entire hike. I'm ready to enjoy the rest of the hike come what may!