Date: 2003-08-01
From: Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Brink Road Shelter
Miles today: 14.3
Weather: light rain

Well, so much for tempting fate...all it did was make me have to wake up in the middle of the night to zip my tent fly shut! Oh, well...I slept pretty well, but kind of fitfully. My body ached randomly, and if I tried to sleep on my right side, the ground was tilted just enough to throw me into my pack. It didn't happen if I laid on my left side...how odd is that? I didn't wake up for good till 8:15, and it was difficult to convince myself that there was a good reason to be up. It was still raining, and I was nice and dry and warm in my tent. I did have to go use the privy, and so got my lazy butt out of my tent. Gerri brought us our food bags, so I had breakfast in bag. I got a day caught up in my journal, then admitted I couldn't put it off any longer...I had to pack up and get hiking. It was definitely a zero-day-in-your-tent kind of day. I got my stuff together and went to the lodge. I was looking forward to a Mountain Dew, but the camp store was temp!orarily closed. I made a phone call to my Mom, just to leave a message, but she was home! This was a good sign...I haven't said anything about it, but my Memere, my mother's mother, had fallen and broken her femur, and had to get a screw put in to put it back together. The original screw came out, however, due to osteoporosis, and this past week, they needed to put a longer one in. My Seester said that the surgery did not go well, and she lost a lot of blood during the operation. She had been in the ICU, although was moved to a regular room yesterday. If she was still not doing well, I knew my Mom would still be there. It was very good, then, to talk with Mom this morning! I feel a little helpless and useless being out here, though, when things like this happen. I was feeling pretty sad and depressed for awhile this morning because of everything...(of course all my feelings were enhanced by PMS) and the gloom of the day, rain and fog, only made things worse. I had! a good cry while hiking before our first break. While standing on a ledge overlooking what I'm sure must have been a lovely view, were it not fogged in, I had a thought (yup, that's it, just one). I couldn't help but think that I'm not completely getting the reason for me being out here. And I thought of it as the view before me...I know that there's something for me to see...it's just fogged in right now. I hope that I get to see it soon...I only have two months left! I felt better after the break, despite the fact that the weather continued to be yucky (that's a technical term). I'd describe the hike for you today, but it really was a very nondescript sort of day. The terrain in NJ is not difficult, and the rocks, so far, are nothing compared to those of PA. I mean, they're there, but you can walk around most of them. I guess I don't want to bore people with that sort of stuff. It makes me think of Le Chef's entries in the shelter registers..."Blah, blah, blah, blah..." "Something profound!" or "Something profane about PA rocks!"!   Sometimes it feels like that's what I'm doing. I can tell you that the day went well, and my feet are feeling better today. We got to our campsite at 7:30, and set up in the rain, which, of course, increased in intensity when we started putting up our tents. Thunder rumbled a little, as well. Once set up, Randy and I went down to the shelter to get water. We thought there would be a lot of people there, but there was only Puff Daddy and BlueBird tenting, and two women who we didn't know tenting inside the shelter. We found the spring, collected water and went back to our site. The rain grew steadily harder as we cooked dinner. By the time I was finished eating (penne alfredo with salmon and peppermint tea to drink, yum!), I was completely drenched. I don't know if you can comprehend what it's like to be sitting on a rock in the rain, cooking and eating dinner, with absolutely nowhere to go to be dry while you eat. It makes for a fairly resigned dinner. But, hey!, doing the dishes is so much easier! Just put them on the ground, ora nearby rock, and they practically wash themselves! I brought the food bags to the shelter, which has a locked bear box, came back, left my clothes outside (taking a brief shower in the rain), and hit my relatively dry tent. I'm warm and cozy now, and am sure that tomorrow, if it's still raining, it will be another difficult day to get going...and so the cycle continues...goodnight!