Date: 2015-07-20
From: Lost Pond Shelter

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: clear sky

I know that I need to slow down.This is something that I have been struggling with a lot lately.Unfortunately, I keep bouncing back and forth. During the day, I sometimes stop and think, "I don't want to hike anymore. I just want to sit here and read my book and breathe the fresh air and feel the breeze and enjoy the view."But also I end up rushing to get places. I always seem to have some motivation to keep going. This is really good and also really bad. I have been so ridiculously lucky to have had so many plans. Mom and Dan in Virginia, going home to visit Candace, going home for the picnic and the wedding...And now I have two more things!Mackenzie, my friend who I worked with at Acadia (also with Trail Mentor Alexa), is originally from Vermont, though she is working as a ranger in Cape Cod this summer. Mackenzie is awesome and hilarious. She is like a little kid... living off of ramen and Teddy Grahams. I am bummed that she is not around, because I would love to bug her. Her mom, though, may be willing to pick me up and let me take a shower!Also, Jeralyn works near the trail! She wants to meet, too. Once again exhibiting how amazing of a friend she is, she has offered to pick me up, or bring me pizza or fruit. Did I mention that she will just be getting back from her honeymoon?! She is newlywed and surely overwhelmed, but still willing to pick up a grubby, smelly hiker. I will stink up her car. And her house. And eat all of her food. But she loves me anyway. GREAT FRIEND, RIGHT?!I am so lucky.I want to be able to meet Jeralyn on Thursday, so that if she's able (and willing) to bring me back to her house (where I have never been and really want to see), she can drop me back off at the trail on Friday before work so she doesn't have to make a super long trip just to do so on Saturday.So I planned out mad miles this week. I might end up regretting it... I have lots of extra snacks to power me through.The Whites will slow me down soon, I am sure. I just looked at some of those elevation profiles... holy jeez, terrifying! Yet also awesome. I bet they will be amazing. I bet I will become a panda popsicle up there on Mount Washington, freezing my chubby butt off (if only it worked that way!)I think that I will try to take a trail nero sometime next week if I can. If I have enough food and find a good spot, that's something I still need to cross off of my AT bucket list.So that's the word on miles. I do want to slow down. I am not ready for my adventure to end. I am just so bad at doing nothing. I get anxious and antsy and eat all my snacks. Seriously, if idle hands do the devil's work, idle panda paws eat all the snacks out of the food bag. I don't want to become a baby beluga.This morning kind of sucked. Vermont continues to be beautiful. But after I left Funk and Next Year behind at the shelter, I entered the AT sauna. It was so warm and humid and gross. The trial was muddy and wet. The roots and rocks, everywhere, were slick and slippery. I can't tell you how many times I slipped today, my heart skipping a beat each time. But it was a lot. It started to piss me off after a while. I cursed my open-mawed Merrells some more.And it just wasn't happy hiking. I passed the gorgeous Little Rock Pond, where I stopped for a long break and ate too many snacks. I felt the awe of nature return as I watched tiny figures hiking along the opposite shore.Then I started hiking again and got sweaty and gross and grumpy again. I stopped in the middle of the trail and stared up through the stained-glass leaves and searched for that same awe but couldn't find it. I slipped some more and got more irritated.As I gained elevation, the trail became a little more exposed and a bit of a breeze crossed the trail, which made me feel better. And higher up, the vegetation changed. A stretch of firs, a carpet of needles, and vibrant green moss coating the ground on either side of the trail greeted me. At one point, the branches of firs, reaching out into the trail, brushed at my arms as I passed, as if to lend comfort. It cheered me up a little.That stretch was so pretty. I love the needles, the firs.Then I started descending and slipped some more.Even though it was early, I stopped for lunch at Bully Brook, because it was pretty and I wanted to enjoy it for a while. Also I needed water. I figured I might as well eat, too.It was another long, long break. I sat and read my book while I ate. Then I read some more. It was a lunch hour well spent. See? I am smelling at least some of the roses, I promise.I got up and hiked on, knowing that if I stayed longer, I would never leave. Funk would come upon me later, frozen in the rigor mortis (or pausis) that comes when a hiker stops moving and all of their muscles seize up and refuse to function (this happens to me every night.)Bear Mountain (#3 after NY and CT Bear Mountains) was gradual and not steep, but I still slugged up it. I left a nice, thick drippy trail of sweat behind me as I went. As I hiked, I wondered if the salt content of the soil of the trail tread is higher than that of the surrounding soil due to all of the nasty hiker sweat. I bet it all just gets washed away in the rain, though.I also stopped for a break at Minerva Hinchey Shelter before my last 3.7 miles of the day. Lots of breaks. I slow down during the day, even if I am hiking too many miles (I am, I know.)The trail crosses over a cool suspension bridge before the road crossing into Clarendon. Many people were swimming below. Lots and lots of everyday people. Weird! It is still strange to cross paths with people in dressed and little kids and remember how much more to life is out there! The green tunnel makes my mind a trail-life tunnel. I was just home, but I lose touch with reality so easily.The last mile included a long, steep rock scramble. I sweated my slick way up it and was so, so thankful to start descending. This shelter is fairly big. It is kind of old. It has a table inside, which I am taking advantage of (yay!) It even has a clothesline, so I didn't have to string mine up.I passed quite a few people today but didn't engage in any conversations, which was a little unusual. It was kind of an uneventful day. I ended fairly early and did all of my chores, and still have plenty of time to read and relax. Tomorrow will be longer. There is always also that problem of finding convenient places to stop for the night that have water (and, preferably in uncertain weather, shelter.)Silent Force arrived after I did. He lied about slowing down, too. Still waiting to see if Funk and Next Year will show up.Despite my prolific snacking and the fact that I can feel my butt and thighs expanding, I am starving. It is Korean curry time! With REAL CHICKEN. And by real, I mean that it is in a pouch like tuna. Not too grossly preserved.And then reading time, because I love this book.I am thankful for the wilderness, even though I struggle to embrace it sometimes. I really am happy to be here. I am thankful for things to look forward to, and soon for reasons to slow down. I will try.