I woke up and had two immediate thoughts. First thought: holy cow is it beautiful here. I looked around the campsite and over the lake and just sat for a while. Admiring the beauty. It wasn’t just me who had that thought though. There were plenty of animals running around the campsite last night – admiring my sleep set up I’m sure. 

My second thought was that my knee, which had been screaming as I went to sleep, was feeling a lot better. I took a few test steps and, while it was still a bit ginger, it was much better than yesterday. I had been worrying last night about whether my left knee would be the thing that made me end the hike. But by this morning, I knew that wasn’t going to be the case. It would be painful to get to Damascus, but I knew I’d be ok. 

I started off the hike moving pretty slow. Partially to be easy on my knee and partially because I wasnt quite in the zone. A big part of that was because I didn’t have any water with me. While I had camped next to a lake, it didn’t look suitable to drink – not even with a filter. I had used up all but a few sips cooking dinner last night and was therefore pretty thirsty as I climbed out of camp. 

At mile five I came across a stream and filtered a liter. Then another. I chugged water to make up for this morning and then a bit more to help get me through the next bit. 

While I was sitting there a guy walked by whk took the age old game of hiker or homeless to a while nother level. He had a pack on with a bedroll on the back. But he was also wearing blue jeans with a tie as a belt. He walked past me and into the woods. “You should probably go left,” I called out pointing to the trail. He looked around vaguely and said “yeah – that does seem right.”

After getting water I felt like I hit my stride. I was no longer worrying about each step. I found a style of walking that almost completely alleviated all pain. I was able to place my feet without worrying too much about the ramifications to my knee of a missstep.

I didn’t, however, think about the ramifications of walking into a low hanging, blown down tree. I walked head first into it causing me to 1) feel confident that my concussion is no longer there and 2) fall flat on face. But no harm, no fall. I brushed the dirt off myself and continued  onwards. 

As I walked toward camp, I ran into Bougie and chatting with her for a bit she told me that “There’s no more water between here and your shelter. How much water do you have with you?” I was a bit confused, there were multiple water sources shown on the map in front of me. But she was adamant. When I admitted I was almost out of water, she made me take some of hers. I came across a well flowing stream less than 5 minutes later. 

I got to the shelter pretty early and cooked myself a hot meal. I stretched out my leg, set up my hammock and hung out as the night’s crew rolled in. There were familiar faces and some new ones. But all of them said the same thing. “I heard you were in desperate need of water earlier and Bougie saved you.”

Tomorrow is going to be a long walk into town so I’m going to bed early, ready to hit the trail before sunrise. It’s going to rain and with my knee, I’m not trying to be in any rush. 

Key stats:

Miles: 13

Elevation gained: 3,700

Mile marker: 445

Hiker or homeless odds: 1:4