Miles today: 12
Total miles: 126.5
Today was great in every way. It was my favorite day on trail so far. I woke up naturally around 630 and finished packing my stuff. Thankfully my bag is lighter now that I don’t have to carry 10 days worth of food! It is about 31 pounds including food and water which is still slightly higher than I’d like but feels much better than the 40ish I carried through the 100 mile wilderness.
We headed over to the other hostel, Shaws, in monson for our second day of their amazing all you can eat breakfast. I loaded up on eggs, bacon, sausage, home fries, French toast and coffee. Then thorny so kindly drove us the three miles to the trailhead. It was sad saying bye to him and Popeye. They’ve done so much for us (thorny even gave me an extra pole he had so now I have two, saving me $100 or so). They were like our trail dads and just such a positive and fun presence. We will miss them dearly but they have of course kindly offered to help us out and feed us when we pass by their homes in PA and VA so I hope we will see them again.
The day was beautiful, sunny and probably 75 or so but it didn’t feel too hot while hiking. The terrain was generally flat, only a few little ups and downs and very few roots and mud and bugs for once!! My new shoes feel sooo much better. It makes a world of difference to walk on good feet. My blisters are still healing but I wrapped them good and felt almost 100% and was able to walk relatively fast (well, for me at least).
I’m still with the four others and its nice to have our little crew still going. We walked together for a good part of the day rather than the boys speeding ahead so that was a nice change. I forced everyone to play two truths and a lie and ghost while walking which made time fly and had us all laughing. We even did truths and a lie for Mabel (wolf birds dog).
We had planned on just doing 9 miles to the first shelter but we got there early around 3 or so. There were about six others we’d met in monson there already so it was a bit crowded. We all felt good so we decided to keep walking for a while til we found a decent place to stealth camp.
I listened to music as I walked for the first time. I haven’t listened to music much at all in the past two weeks so it felt like a special treat and I was in such a happy mood bopping along down the trail with the sun shining walking next to a beautiful stream and just feeling good and grateful for good feet. I spent a lot of time thinking about everyone I miss back home and across the country. Chances are if you are reading this I probably thought of you and how great you are and how I miss you. It’s hard to describe but I just had this nice serene feeling while walking this afternoon where I saw things in my life in proper perspective. I wasn’t worried or anxious about anything and was content in the current moment and grateful for all the people in my life and happy in the moment doing what I’m doing.
This wonderful day ended with finding a great spot to camp right by a river. We had a campfire and roasted hot dogs and had bacon in addition to our dinners. We just enjoyed each others company and went to bed happy and full.
I think the rest and chance to reenergize both physically and mentally in monson really helped me today and I hope it lasts. We climb a mountain tomorrow and plan to do 10 miles but may do more if we feel good.