Date: 2023-07-03
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Miles today: 11.5

Day 9 - When Things Get ToughToday was a difficult day. Our most trying yet and tough in a myriad of ways. First of all we hiked 11.5 miles.  That¢s after a cold and windy night in the shelter. The kids all slept well but I did not. It¢s tough to hike 11.5 miles after not sleeping. We had our earliest start yet, we were on the trail at 7:38am. That felt like a huge win.  We¢re getting better at something. This is even after chatting and saying goodbye to our new friends.  Everyone hiked well today but we had several more falls (none serious) including our daughter who somehow fell and hit her knee, then her head then flipped head over heels onto her back and back to her feet. She did a full somersault on a steep rocky trail and popped back up right before my eyes. She didn¢t shed a tear and had just one little scrape on her knee. I told her we were changing her trail name from ¢Trail Dolphin¢ to ¢Flipper¢. Then our youngest son fell a couple times, nothing serious, just run of the mill knee scrapes but every fall induces anxiety in you as a parent.  After Erin fell yesterday I didn¢t feel like my nerves could handle any more falls. (Erin is fine by the way, we had her cut checked out at a clinic today)At midday we could not find a good spot for lunch and everyone was famished. The AT in the summer is like a thin ribbon of trail snaking through dense underbrush. You often can not get off the trail at all.  If you did manage you¢d likely be waist deep in poison ivy (sounding fun yet?). So you have to look for clearings or camping spots to eat lunch.  We never found one today so we just sat on a leafy area free of poison ivy. We put our sit pads down, got out all the lunch bags, took off shoes and were in the maximum state of gear disarray right before taking our first, much-needed bites of food when our oldest screamed ¢I HAVE A TICK!!¢  There are not a lot of things I fear, but ticks inhabit my nightmares. I find them to be the most loathsome creatures on God¢s green Earth.  When my son yelled those words I flew to my feet and immediately felt itchy all over. I was just sure I was covered in ticks too. Thankfully Erin jumped to more productive action and grabbed the tweezers and had that tick off by the time I had danced around in a few circles. We hastily repacked all of our gear, stomachs still empty, and hiked away from there as fast as possible after we had all checked each other for more ticks. That was a real low point for us. The sort of moment you ask, ¢what are we doing!?¢  We hiked another mile and found a semi suitable lunch spot that appeared tick-free. After a quick lunch we had an a 2.5 mile downhill stretch to our pickup location.  Where a resupply box and night in a hotel was waiting for us. We made it down and got a ride to town where we checked into Holiday Inn Express. It was the only game in town that allowed 6 guests.  After a dip in the very depressing, yet refreshing, indoor pool, we split up and I took the kids to DQ for a blizzard while Erin headed to a clinic to look at her cut. Sometime during all of this a storm rolled through and knocked out power. So now we¢re sitting in a Holiday inn Express, and our room is hot and dark and we have gear everywhere.  Erin is gone and I¢m worried about her.  First what the doctor will say and then how will she get home in the storm. Finally Erin shows up at our room, freshly bandaged with a clean bill of health. The clinic gave her an umbrella to walk back so she wasn¢t soaked.  We were all safe and together even if it was dark and steamy in the room. All the other guests left the hotel, that¢s what you do when you have a car. This is a small town, no Uber or Lyft. It¢s also July 4th weekend and anything walking distance was full. So it looked like we were stuck. And here we are still. Kids asleep on top of the blankets. Last night we slept in a shelter cold and windy. Tonight, a budget hotel room hot and still.  Oh, the irony of this being our ¢town¢ night.  We did not get our laundry all washed as hoped but we all get mattresses for the night and I¢m pretty sure there are no bears in the hotel (or anyone else). Tomorrow we head back to the trail for our longest stretch yet. 40 miles in 4 days is the goal.  This will take us past the 100 mile mark and across a state line.  We¢re nervous but excited for the next challenge ahead.  The days are getting tougher but so are we. *** Update. The power came on about midnight. We got a good nights sleep and a good breakfast. Off to the trail now!