Surprise, surprise. It was wet when I got out of bed. Notice I say got out of bed, not woke up. That’s because I’m not convinced I ever fell asleep last night. There’s something about the wet and the sweat that left me so itchy. Everytime I almost drifted off, I’d be jolted awake by a new itch. 

As I left camp, I saw a group of guys going the wrong way. “Trails this way,” I called out. They let me know they were “blue blazing” or taking a short cut. I wistfully watched them begin their cheaters route and walked through the clouds to the proper route. 

Between the lack of sleep and the mist in front of me, I was struggling to stay focused on finding the blazes and following the trail. At one point I looked up and couldn’t see a blaze. And the “trail” I was following dead ended into a downed tree. I looked all around and I had no idea where to go. 

But then there was movement. I saw rockets hat floating in the distance. “Don’t move,” I called out to him. “Just talk at me or something” and he did. And I followed the sound of his voice back to the trail. No more than 15 feet from where I was standing. 

I left rocket and walked for a while with Babytalk and we chatted about how we were feeling. “I’m tired,” she admitted. These days have been long and I think it’s just getting to me.” I couldn’t have agreed more. “I just want to be dry and to not feel rushed.” The last few weeks we seem to have picked up the pace to beyond my comfort zone. We’ve been getting into camp late and not really getting to enjoy each others company. We made a pact, we were going to take it a bit easier today. 

But even with the intention of moving slowly and easily, I still found myself caught in the race. Pushing as hard as I could and trying to ignore the pains that were coming from the tops of my toes. I knew there were blisters forming but I just pushed through. Must get to destination. 

By the time I got to the shelter we had agreed to meet at for lunch, I was exhausted. I dragged myself in. “How we feeling?” Asked a chipper rocket. I barely answered. I just took off my shoes and showed him the raw toes and heel blisters. So many days of walking in wet shoes had done its damage. “Yikes,” he said. “Gonna be a tough 10 more miles.”

I looked at him. “I’m not going 10 more today. In fact, I think I may be done for the day.” When I saw my raw feet, I made up my mind. I couldn’t push more today. I needed to listen to my body. I had originally been planning to leave the trail on Friday to head home. But I texted my friend John and asked if he could get me tomorrow instead. A few extra miles just wasn’t worth the pain and risk of real injury.

I decided that I hadn’t done enough though. I could hobble on a bit further, to make tomorrow less of a long day. When baby talk caught up to me she told me that she wasn’t doing the 10 mile push to where rocket was going either. She was stopping short at a small tent site. “Sold!” I said. And as I said that, she asked what that was to our left. It was a restaurant! It just popped out of no where. “Sold!” I said again. 

dripping wet and smelling like feet, we walked into the restaurant behind groups dressed up in button downs and dresses. But even with our stench they let us sit in the main dining room and served me an amazing fried chicken sandwich and the best miller lite there ever has been. 

It was only 2 miles to camp after that and even those were a challenge. But it was a delight once we got there. We stayed up til almost 10pm chatting before eventually admitting it was too dark and buggy to continue. I climbed into my hammock feeling well fed and ready for sleep. 

Key stats:

Miles: 23

Elevation gained: 3,300ft

Mile marker: 1249

Toe blisters: 1,343