Due to lack of service, day 23 and 24 will both be coming out today

After mentioning that a lot of people were struggling yesterday, I guess it’s only fair that it was my turn to have a tough day today. It started when I barely slept at my secluded campsite. 

I gave up trying to sleep around 6:30 and hit the road. I ran into one of the guys from the warrior expeditions program. He’s a lovely guy, but I usually leave him in my dust whenever I see him. Today my legs just weren’t there. I saw him in the distance but couldn’t catch up. 

I plodded along slowly, trying everything I could think of to get my body going. I played music, I ate candy, I ate more candy, but nothing did the trick. No matter what I did, I seemed to continue on a snails pace. 

I ran into a couple coming the other way. And when I told them I was through hiking, they gave me a fortune cookie. “Your luck will shine in personal relationships.” That sounded great and all but I really wanted it to say “your feet will move faster soon.”

I pushed through the rest of the day, stopping over and over again on the climb up big bald (current contender for dad’s trail name when he gets out here). The view from the top was a gorgeous 360 degree view of the entire surrounding area. But more importantly it had a rock that was great for sitting on. 

I dragged myself into an already almost full camp and set up my hammock. I thought about just eating alone but I’m very glad I chose to be social. I had a lovely evening with Blue Jeans (he was wearing green chinos), Father Time (he was old), camo (she has camo PJs) and another guy who used his real name so naturally I forgot it. 

It started with Father Time pulling a fully cooked and charred hotdog from his bag and asking if I wanted it and continued on chatting about our hikes. Blue jeans, from Germany, and Father Time have been hiking together for a while. The other guy was section hiking. And camo was out for the week. She said something about knowing blue jeans but I never did fully understand how she fit into the picture.

We were all laughing and joking when a grumpy old man (another contender for dad’s trail name) from the tent next to the fire pit said “guys – it’s almost 8 o clock. Can you keep it down, I’d love to actually get some sleep tonight.”

We stayed up whisper chatting a bit longer but eventually made it back to our own sleeping bags. Me personally, ready to sleep forever. 

Key stats:

Miles: 21

Elevation gained: 6200 ft

Mile marker: 331

Where the grump old man chose to set up his tent: right next to the fire pit