Samwise Hikes the Appalachian Trail! - Trail Journal -
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April 30, Spring Mtn Shelter - Mile 281.9

    Today was one of those days where it was "all mental". After one last night in a soft bed & a hot shower, it was time to head back out on the trail. After picking up my mail drop & letters at the post office, though, which was followed by an hour of packaging & sorting to get everything into my pack. Tony was incredibly patient while I fussed with everything & he waited until I was all packed & ready to go before he left, which of course made me all the more miserable. So I was already in a poor mood when I started hiking, feeling sad & lonely & dissappointed that it will be more than a month until I get to see him again.

    It was about 10:00 before I actually got hiking, after a fruitless search at the outfitter for an Ace bandage so that I can wrap both my knees. They were out of them, unfortunately, so I am still hiking with only one bandage for two sore knees - I just switch it to whichever knee hurts most for the day. But it's rather inconvenient when both are hurting like today.

    As always, the first 6-7 miles coming out of town were all uphill, which is always difficult for me, but especially so when I'm carrying tons of town food for the next 5 days. I decide today as I was groaning under my pack that I need to find a happy medium between lightweight foods & foods that really taste good. For my first 4 weeks, I have spent a lot of time worrying about the weight & ended up choking down my food a lot of times. This time, I am loaded up with a block of cheese, a jar of peanut butter (heavy!), half a sausage, pop tarts, tons of gorp, candy & my favorite energy bars, which weigh a ton, plus all my regular noodles & rice. Although it all taste good, I'm not sure it was worth the effort carrying it out! On top of my aggravation with the heavy pack, I also had almost no appetite today so I was mostly eating just for the sake of lightening my pack, not really enjoying it like I should.

    My last two miles getting here nearly killed me today. In fact, the last mile took an hour, twice as long as normal. There was this endless series of hills before I finally came to the top of the one with the shelter & I nearly cried with relief when I finally saw it. I'm still glad that I pushed all the way here instead of camping back two miles, where most of the people I know have stayed. Tomorrow I've planned quite a few miles & I really wouldn't want to add another two.