Even with all my showers yesterday, it was a warm night. And warm nights out here tend to mean very little sleep for me. The snores emanating from hammock across the way let me know, however, that only one of us was struggling with the nights heat. 

Come morning, I ate a classic breakfast of the other half of dad’s chicken cutlet cheese steak left over from yesterday. Was it good? Not after sitting out that long. Was it caloric? You betcha! I headed out down the trail and he headed to find a cab to take him a bit further down the trail. To where he’d start the day from.

Fueled by a breakfast of champions and on very little sleep, I immediately felt terrible. I moved slowly and couldn’t clear my mind. Today ended up being instead of one hike, 10 or so hikes between 10or so sweaty breaks. 

Once again, my shirt and pants were soaked with sweat from the humidity. When I saw a spigot on the side of a building at trailhead I figured “what the hell” and just stepped under it fully clothed. Better to be soaked with clean water than dripping with sweat. 

After 15 miles I dragged myself to a lake that was .3 off trail. I knew they had cold water and a concession stand and the rumor was there may even be some air conditioning to sit in. I wasn’t going to miss it. 

I sat inside a delightfully air conditioned room and ate ice cream and drank a Gatorade and then a Pepsi. But even after indulging myself, I was still over heated and sweaty. I saw an outdoor shower and, once again, stepped under it fully clothed – this time, however, not quite soaking myself. 

As I walked back to the trail I heard “are you doing the whole trail or just out for the weekend?” I looked over and saw a group of four right around my age. When I told them I was doing the full shebang, we started chatting. Two of them, GangGang and Trail Papi, had just started sectioning hiking the trail but the group was all out for just a day of nature. They had already gone out for a hike and were now relaxing by the lake. I couldn’t have been more jealous. When I complained about the mosquitoes I had come across earlier, Trail Papi told me to wear the bug net I have. “I promise, it’s way more comfortable than it looks. And you won’t eat a single bug while it’s on.”

That convinced me. I walked most of the remaining 8 miles to camp with my mosquito net on. And just like he promised, I didn’t have any bug trouble. The only trouble I had was when I forgot I was wearing the netting and tried to eat a cliff bar but was sadly thwarted by the mesh. 

Dad and I camped out on a ridge line overlooking the farmland below. It was beautiful to look at but most importantly it was breezy. That meant it was much cooler and the bugs were kept at bay for the most part. So we stripped off our sweat soaked clothes and sat around eating and chatting in shorts. As dusk came, the mosquitoes seemed no longer scared of the breeze and we’ve since retired to our hammocks. 

Key stats:

Miles: 22

Elevation gained: 4300 ft

Mile marker: 1438

Gallons of sweat lost: 37