Rainy days

Sunday, May 31

Weather: partly cloudy, evening thunderstorm

Miles travelled: 23.1

Total miles on AT: 1094.6

We woke up early and left before the sun was really up. I felt really good in comparison to the day before; my feet were hurting only a little more than usual and I thought maybe I'd be able to actually walk today, instead of stroll around slowly like I had the day before.

Soon into our walk, we sat for a snack break and Carlos caught up to us. We'd been expecting him to catch up that day but I didn't think we'd see him so soon! He sat with us and had his own snack. Apparently he'd camped within a few hundred feet of us the previous night and we hadn't known. As we were chatting, a southbounding section hiker came along and stopped to chat, then Wild Thing and his visiting father caught up and stopped to chat, then three more southbounders. It was a traffic jam!

Eventually we all moved on, and South Pole and I walked and chatted with Carlos all the way to Caledonia State Park, where there was a snack bar. We stopped for a couple hours and sat around, eating mediocre snack bar food and charging our phones. We met Starshine there, a chatty and happy flip-flopping thru hiker who started in Harpers Ferry. 

We walked another 10 miles with Carlos, talking about biking and New Mexico history (his roots are New Mexican so he pretty much knows more about it than I do) and school and work. The miles went fast, and Carlos stopped before we did because he found a nice camp spot. South Pole and I continued to the shelter, where we realized we were only 2.4 miles away from the official AT midpoint, so we cooked dinner and moved on. The shelter was really nice and we chatted with two older men as we cooked. We collected water and continued, worried about stopping too late because it was supposed to rain, so we walked fast, took hurried pictures at the midpoint and found a flat spot a few feet beyond. It was really rocky (welcome to PA!), so I wasn't able to get my stakes in well and my tent was kind of floppy. Soon after we set up it was dark and it started to thunderstorm, the wind rattling my tent. I worried it would collapse on me and that I wouldn't be able to sleep, but the next thing I knew it was morning. 

Monday, June 1 

Weather: Afternoon rain

Miles travelled: 9.8

Total miles on AT: 1104.4

We packed up slowly and started walking at 8. Soon, we started hearing yells and chatter. We hadn't been walking long enough to see the shelter so I couldn't tell what it was. We were admiring the many mountain laurels in full bloom when we turned around to see a man with an army shirt barreling towards us from the other direction, shouting, with four men running behind him. He paused when he saw us with our cameras out and did a pose "take a picture!", he said, before letting out a confident, booming laugh and running on, his men panting in his tailwind. After that, we kept having to get off the path for more runners and walkers (packless), who seemed to be in the same group. One younger looking guy asked, "how're you doing?" South Pole responded, "well, and you?" "Livin'."

We were happy to get beyond that segment of day hikers because they really slowed us down. Carlos soon caught up to us and passed, bound for the store/restaurant in a few miles. As we continued, I started to feel a little stifled. It'd been on and off like that for a few days, and I said to South Pole, "What if we hike apart for a while? It's fun to have company, but sometimes it's not just about having fun. I feel like I'm not suffering enough." 

I like walking with people, but I've been missing the meditative feeling I get when I'm on my own, and I know I'm not as outgoing when I'm with someone else. Advantages to hiking with people: time goes more quickly, lots more fun, safer, cheaper. Advantages of being alone: more flexible, good thinking, talk to more people. South Pole and I decided to keep walking together for now but are thinking we might just walk "separately" and plan to meet in 10 or so days when we meet her family in New Jersey.

We got to the store at 11. It's home of the half-gallon ice cream challenge, and I was wavering. To eat ice cream and get sick, or turn down a challenge? Well, I've never been one to turn down a challenge, so I bought a quart and a half of orange pineapple ice cream and started in. We were sitting with another thru hiker, Catnapper, who had done the half gallon challege the previous day, and then ate a cheeseburger and fries, and then ate another half gallon only four hours later. 

I soon realized orange pineapple was a mistake. Actually, that the whole challenge was a mistake. I felt sick and I hadn't even finished my quart and a half. South Pole bought her quart and a half of mint chip ice cream an hour after me, and finished ten minutes before I did. Five minutes after she finished, she went in and got her pint (to make a full gallon) and was done in minutes, while I lay on a bench and took a nap, feeling woozy. Two other thru hikers had just finished their half gallons (followed by burgers and fries), and were napping on the floor under the porch. Carlos passed on the half gallon challenge (wise man) and ate normal food before moving on. An hour after he left, it started pouring rain. I ate my pint at 4, 5 hours after my quart and a half. But I ate the entire half gallon! South Pole and I were waiting until 5 because that's when the hostel opened and she had to pick up her packages.

A woman. Mama Bear, and her three children came through while we were there. Last year they hiked from Springer to Harpers Ferry and this year they will hike from Harpers Ferry to Katahdin. Her oldest son, Spicy Man, is 9, and the two youngest, Strong Man and Little Butt, are 5 year old twins. Starshine, Timber, and Ice Cream all came and left, and we just lounged and chatted and ate until South Pole was able to get her package. 

We walked .6 of a mile and had a shower at the free showers at the lake, and then tried to move quickly to beat the coming rain. We walked for an hour and then found a nice flat spot, settling in just as the rain began. It didn't stop for another 22 hours.

Tuesday, June 2 - Wednesday, June 3

Weather: rainy, chilly

Miles travelled: 24.9

Total miles on AT: 1129.3

I woke up at 6 to the sound of rain. I'd woken up off and on through the night because I was chilly with just my fleece blanket and rain jacket. I dozed for another hour before I heard South Pole stir. "It's still raining," I called. "I know," she responded. "It's not supposed to stop till this evening," I said (I had weak cell phone service, enough to check weather). "I don't want to pack up in the rain," she said. And with that, we decided to spend the day in our tents.

It went slowly. I watched a couple movies on my phone and ate and tried to stay warm. I know South Pole hates to be still so I'm sure it was worse for her, although she'd managed to sleep a little more throughout the day.

Three o'clock rolled around and South Pole got out to pee, coming back to relay news of the rain actually not being that bad anymore. I cooked dinner quickly and we packed and started walking around 5. We had grand plans of making it another 42 miles to Duncannon the next night, so that we could get a shower and finally wash our clothes and possibly sleep in beds. At 7, we got to a deli that was only .2 off trail and stopped. We ate sandwiches and I bought cans of soda to take with me for a caffeine jolt when I knew I would need it. We left an hour and a half later, the rain starting again (even though the forecast said 0% chance until the next night), and it didn't stop until well into the next day. 

We didn't want to stop for breaks because everything was so wet, so we just walked. We went through the rock maze around midnight, and at one point had to take off our packs to crawl up a rock. It made hiking interesting, and I actually enjoyed those rocks. They were better than the rocks that are wobbly and hurt your ankles.

Around midnight I started to feel tired, much sooner than last time, and turned my music on. It seemed like ages by the time we'd walked 17 miles to Boiling Springs, passing the ATC regional headquarters, where we stopped for another long break under the porch. I drank a soda and felt fine so we went out into the rain and kept walking. It was only half an hour before I started to feel tired again. I knew from last time that it would only get worse, and started wondering if I really wanted to do that to myself again when I didn't have to. I began to think about my schedule. In order to get to Katahdin on August 7 (starting from Harper's Ferry), I would have to walk 20 miles a day for 9 days, then one day off, for 40 days, then 15 miles a day for 15 days with one day off for the last 30 days (to account for difficult terrain in NH and ME). This means that I can have one day off sometime in the next week, which I'm not anticipating, so I'm allowed to take it whenever I like, and could theoretically take it now. 

I decided the best solution would be to try to make it another 12 miles to the shelter, where I wouldn't have to set up a wet tent. I could nap for a couple hours and then keep walking as long as I felt like I could. I knew South Pole would be fine all the way to Duncannon because she had so much energy, but I was wavering in my desire to continue. We kept walking through grassy fields, which got us more wet than the rain did, soaking our socks and making our shoes squishy. I made it to sunrise eventually, which helped. 

Finally I had to sit down, unwilling to continue walking. We'd walked 25 miles and I decided to stop and set up my tent, even though it was still wet and I would definitely be cold. I was tired enough that I thought I could sleep regardless of the discomfort. I checked the map and realized we were only .4 from motels. I suggested it to South Pole, even though I thought she wouldn't want to, and she was surprisingly okay with the idea of stopping at 7 in the morning. Ideally I would've wanted to stop for a few hours and nap, do laundry, take a shower and walk another 10 or 15 miles, but it wouldn't make sense to leave a motel room without spending the night. We walked to the Super 8 and they let us check in early. That alone was enough to raise my spirits. We showered and washed our clothes and ate some of their (dinky) continental breakfast and I napped until noon, when I thought I shouldn't sleep any more and got up to clean my gear and try to blog. We managed to dry our tents and our shoes.

The day passed quickly. We ate dinner and walked to the truck stop for extra snacks for tomorrow, where we found the most trucks I've ever seen in one place. It was incredible.

Tomorrow, South Pole is thinking about walking 28 miles but I think I might still be tired and only walk 21, which will give us a shot at walking alone for a few days. We'll see what happens!