Sunday, May 17, 2020 8:35 pm 16.1 mi
AT 121.8 Licklog Gap → AT 137.9 Stealth Campsite
Weather: Sunny/overcast
Trail Conditions: Dry and dusty. Lots of dangerous blowdowns from Wesser Bald onwards
My Condition: Happy, but having doubts. Maybe it’s the Smokies timeline crunch that has me spooked, but today was humbling.
Beautiful sunrise from inside my tent this morning. Slept pretty well on the CCF pad – seemingly better than I was with the Neoair Xlite. Woke up once to a chorus of owls. INCREDIBLE views today – each and every day seems to get more beautiful. Having a more difficult time acclimating to the miles on the trail – granted I’m jumping right into bigger miles out of necessity, but my body hurts. Actually, not so much my body. More my feet. Lots of Leukotape/KT tape. Sore ankles from jostling on rocks or roots. They’ll toughen up, I just wish it would happen soon. Definitely not as confident as I felt on the early attempt. My CNOC water bag sprung MULTIPLE leaks – on camera – I don’t know what the heck happened to cause such a catastrophic failure. Thought I lost my rain gear – it was just packed at the very bottom of my pack where it definitely does NOT belong. Didn’t need it, just didn’t recall packing it. Faceplanted twice trying to avoid blowdowns – glasses went flying – had to retrieve Sawyer filter and Smart Water bottle which rolled down steep embankment, one each fall. Apparently just missed seeing a rattlesnake before descent started down into the NOC. Was able to get bag of chips and a strawberry milk at the general store, and charge my phone on outlets outside the outfitter. Would love to come back and check it out in better conditions.
Post Trail Analysis
I LOVED my new folding foam sleeping pad. Durable as heck, plop it down and you’re good, versus the Thermarest which needed inflating. If I were to recommend one book for every single thru hiker to read before the trail, it would be Fixing Your Feet. Blisters, foot, and ankle issues can quickly derail a hike. From reading this book, I was prepared to (correctly) pre-tape my feet on days like this to keep them in good shape before problems popped up. I had a whole routine each night for my feet, and this book deserves a lot of the credit for my making it to Katahdin. As time went along, I needed to do less and less with my feet – they got tougher, albeit more tender. This was the day I made the permanent switch from filtering my water to using Aquamira, and I didn’t look back once. It’s faster, actually takes care of more than the filter does (viruses, bacteria, protozoa, everything – compared to just most of the bacteria and protozoa, and none of the viruses), and made sense to me. Chlorine dioxide is something I was comfortable using from my background as a pool operator, and is actually what most municipal water treatment facilities use. I almost never had problems with floaties or sediment in the water sources, so the filter didn’t really make any sense for me. The descent into NOC was gorgeous, and I’d definitely like to experience this section again in better days, when I can sit down at a restaurant in town and enjoy a hearty meal.
ความคิดเห็น