5/11/99 Little Laurel Shelter   Miles Today : 19.5 Miles from Springer : 290.0

Today was not my best hiking day, that's for sure. To start with, I woke up the in middle of the night, sick to my stomach. After several minutes of pain and discomfort, I puked my brains out. Not a good omen for me starting to fight the stomach bug off. The rest of the morning was pretty good, with a great breakfast prepared by Elmer and staff. I felt good and I could eat until I was full.

When I got ready to leave town, I was a little sad since I am once again alone. Rick is on his way home, Monk is staying an extra day in town to get a full body message ( Yes, I think this is excessive ) and Drive-By was starting later since he didn't feel well and had no intention of doing 20 miles. Not that being alone is bad it just hit me this morning.

Then, the start of the climb out of town was a brute. Tough terrain and high temps meant that I got a very slow start. On top of that I started getting sick on the trail Truth is that for the first 10 miles I thought about quitting. Why am I still out here, am I still having fun, what do I have to prove, will I have enough money to finish anyway?

After 11 or so miles, I hit the first shelter, tired, dragging and hungry for lunch. I took my time eating, getting water, etc… and recharged my mind and body. I started to feel better and my legs finally started to get going. Then I caught up with Quincy and her dog, Georgie and I felt great. That's when I realized that this isn't just a journey for me, solo. Its also about how much better I can do than the majority of other people on the trail. I guess this shouldn't surprise me given my competitive side, but I guess I was hoping that wouldn't be part of this trip. This lead to even more realizations on my part about how proud I am that I can at least hike with everyone that I have met, or how excited I get when I crack a 20 mile day. Oh well, this just means that I have to readjust my goals: catch as many people as possible!

I also caught up with Del Scorcho and Heat Meiser toward the end of the day. Meiser is shooting for a 20 mile day tomorrow and other than him waiting for Schorcho and Quincy, I think we hike about the same pace so we will see.

Now, I am in the shelter with some really annoying people who I plan on hiking away from as far as possible. The woman ( no, I didn't bother to get her name ) is really, REALLY annoying and only the concentration that I am spending on my journal is stopping me from smacking her in the side of the head. Typical ultra-nice/yuppie/bubbly/stupid-sense-of-humor person who is a gear wenie. One of those people who can only talk about gear and equipment. AGH!

There are also a lot of day/week hikers about the shelter who are getting to me as well. One has a radio going ( I am about to stop that ) and another sat right in front of all my stuff as I was trying to cook. Oh well, I don't want to quit anymore and I have hope for tomorrow.

-Chomp

< Previous Entry | Next Entry >