11:25AM Start Day 7
**Facebook Post 082317 at 2:41PM**
So, I have been on Trail for officially 6 days. What have I learned? Well, so far it looks like I suck at planning. I walked into Monson, ME, today with pretty much no food. Since about two or three days ago, I had to start rationing. I got into this predicament because my knees and toes started killing me a few days in, which is pretty typical, but it slowed me down way more than I had anticipated. At night was brutal. That’s when all the nerves in my feet decided to throb, not to mention my hips and those damn pesky knees again. So, I got very little sleep, sometimes choosing to night hike instead of laying there suffering.
True to my hiking experience though, the pain did subside eventually. My knees do still bug me from time to time, and every so often my toes wake up and scream, but most of the nerve damage is done at this point and I can get back to more mileage. Either way, it has put me behind, a lot.
So, that all being said, another issue, one leading to the next, because my knees and feet hurt so bad, and I got slowed down like I did, now I ended up with less food than I needed because I was out so long in the 100 Mile Wilderness. There are no resupply points out there. In fact, they warn you with a big sign as you enter, you need to have ten days supply with you. I scoffed! I am dumb. BUT also faster than most. So, I barely made it out of there with any food, but I did make it out.
The big problem with rationing though, is that you don’t have the calories you need to pull in big miles. I could hear my stomachs eating itself. And I kept getting heartburn, which I never get. So, either what I was eating was making me ill, or I was hearing myself loosing body mass. You have zero energy for the climbs you need to do, if you don’t feed yourself properly. So, needless to say, I was also getting dizzy and winded quick.
Anyway, I made it today to Shaw’s, about a mile and a half off trail. I got showered, did laundry, resupplied, and next I’m heading to town, right up the road, for what my hostel didn’t have in shop. I’ve pretty much killed most of my day, but I’m not staying here. I will be on Trail before dark and back making it happen as quickly as possible.
If I had to do this over again, which may happen, I would go into the woods for two weeks, get my body conditioned properly. I feel like if I had a vehicle waiting for me and more time off work, I’d turn around and start over now. My body is just now getting it together enough to handle the extremes. I’d also strategically place bounce boxes along the way, so that I wouldn’t find myself having to go in early like I did today. I actually wasn’t supposed to go into town until Caratunk, ME, and it should have happened two days ago.
Oh, and did I also mention, I am a moron when it comes to keeping track on my electronics? I open up my Headlamp, which by the way is not luminescent enough, but I have one in Caratunk waiting for me that is, but I digress, I go to put new batteries in and it takes two instead of one that I’m prepared with. So, I have no headlamp, because it’s dead now. I did get batteries today at resupply, but that put me in a pickle for any night hiking. Which, I’m going to say pretty much kills you, and gets you nowhere fast anyway, but that might be my opinion at the moment because the headlamp I have is only 40 lumens. The one I have in Caratunk is 300. It’s nice to be able to see properly when night hiking.
My total miles as of 11:25 this morning were 117.8. To put this in perspective, I should be at 246. I’m the underdog and I know it. I’m still going to continue on, and try to bust a move, especially since I am over all doing better than last year, but I’m going have to pull out some sort of miracle to make this happen at this point. Not impossible, but not probable. Looks like if I’m a dead goose again this year, there will be that third try I anticipated before ever even going out this year. Ugh.
BTW… its been quite rainy and humid and hot. I feel like I’m hiking in Florida for God’s sake! I’ve switched to shorts today, but mostly because they were the only clothes I had while I launder my pants. I have heat rash on my upper right thigh, but that will go away with some treatment. Life… Always an adventure.
And another thing, if I ever say the southern part of the trail is the hardest, hit me in my face. I pretty much, even today, and today was an easy hike, have had to put away my hiking sticks on much of the trail because I wouldn’t need them. It’s mostly rock climbing, not hiking. OK, so I exaggerate a bit, but I’m serious. It was climbing for days. Don’t freaking look down, yo.
Anyway, keep me in your thoughts as I push the hell on! I’ll try to update when I resupply, as using my phone out in the woods kills batteries. In order to keep to any plan at all, I need those batteries to check where I am and what I’m doing, but I will keep in touch. Thanks to everyone who has been supporting my endeavor, and I hope I am making you proud to spite my setbacks. Thank you so much! Hopefully, next time I check in, I will not only surprise you, but also myself.
•11:25AM (Estimating) Shaw’s Hostel
•4:15PM Leave Shaw’s in Monson, ME
(1.7 Mile hike back to trail)
•4:45 (Estimating time) Back at AT and Woods Road (Mile 117.8)
•8:00PM (Estimating time)
Horseshoe Canyon Lean To (Mile 123.5)
Sleep
•Wake 4:30AM
•7:32AM West Branch of Piscataquis River (Mile126.5)
•9:19AM Bald Mountain Stream
(Mile 130.4)
•10:35AM Moxie Bald Man. Lean To
(Mile 132.4)
•11:25AM (Estimate) Moxie Bald Mtn.
(Mile 134.5)
11:25AM End Of Day 7
APPROX 16.7 MILES
(Add 1.7 miles from Shaw’s to trailhead)
DAY 1 (081717)
Morning everybody! Just to let you know, I got into Maine just fine last night. I took a shuttle to the hotel and at the moment I’m doing a last minute look through to see if there is anything I want to mail home with the carry on I had checked on the plane. (It had my knife, liquids, trekking poles, etc., in it) The bus doesn’t leave for Medway until this evening. So, I’m hoping to spend the wait time grabbing a bite or two, hitting somewhere to post my box home, and generally going through my schedule and fine tuning my plans.
I’m tired. I just got back into my hotel room here in Bangor, Maine. It’s 7:20, but might as well be midnight, since I pretty much have not slept since 08/14 at 9:00AM. Amazing my brain is still allowing me to function without hallucination.