Day 4 9/15/10
Cow Camp Shelter- Brown Creek Swimming hole
Losing track of the dates. Feels like summer as a kid again. Just when I thought the bug situation wasn’t bad, I saw a walking stick-stick bug motioning towards me before moving on to his next target –our tent. Tent is awesome by the way. Hubba Hubba 2 person back packing tent. Seth and I are right next to each other snug as a bug. He’s on his 2.5 inch blow it up yourself air mattress and mine is a 1.5 inch self-inflating sleeping pad. His is way too high-maintenancy for me.
Today, I woke up at 3 AM scratching my prickly legs certain I had chiggers or something awful of the sort. Then after I self-diagnosed myself as negative, I couldn’t get back to sleep for another hour. I’m very particular about my sleeping arrangements. The planets have to align if I’m sleeping anywhere else than my bed, but I’m so tired here, I just pass out. I have a friend who can pass out anywhere –anywhere, at the drop of a dime. She once passed out on a slot machine in Vegas and woke up to an Aussie native who had a black eye because he tried to tickle a man in an Elmo costume. Yup…
So we wanted to get an earlier start on the day so I woke up and read some of Seth’s book, A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson. A humorous and very popular book on 2 men’s journey on the trail. It talked about some of the many things to worry about on the trail such as insect bites that could cause the end of your days in seconds and the like. I got scared. Seth eventually rose from his sleep and was ready quickly. He would filter out water on our way out and thought that we should skip breakfast and do an early lunch instead. I had to go about my morning routine of washing my face, brushing my teeth, and putting on Aveeno face lotion. My scalp was itchy and I was whining. Seth jokingly told me that I was turning into a diva after 3 days. I have dreads right now- on accident of course. I wasn’t motivated today and Seth told me my trail name should be Grimace. That’s the fat purple thing from the McDonald’s characters-bump that.
So we got to steppin’, got water and after that half mile was back on the trail. I lead the uphill climb 850 feet (not impressive- The Priest 3,000 feet elevation) and then got to the top. We missed the views somehow-so no pictures today. We ate peanut butter crackers and chicken noodle soup (I luv this jet boil) salty but yummy. Oh yeah I only pee like twice a day here-guess I’m sweating it all out. After the uphill climb up Bald mountain, we went down a steep 1900 feet. Downhill hurts your body more than uphill. Uphill is hard, but downhill your knees, hips and feet I think get it the worst because you’re trying to stop yourself from falling and sliding down rocks which I did. I forgot on our way up Bald Mountain, Seth and I tried to make up a song in the tune of “I don’t know but I’ve been told…” I asked him where the idea of wanting to do the A.T. came from. Answers: his mother, a classmate of his from his Harry Potter class (I know it’s a wonder the kid’s ever gotten laid) and his favorite business teacher in college. We’re thinking now that we wouldn’t want to do the whole A.T. but only parts and then hike in other countries. He says he can think of only 2 other friends he could do this with. There’s not many people that I could stand for 3 weeks straight non-stop. Doing the A.T. or parts of the A.T. is healthy. Good physically because I’m working out (though my body might currently hate me), good mentally because you’re not stressed about work, your mind can freely occupy it’s thoughts with whatever and you’re constantly motivating yourself (most of this is mental). It’s good spiritually because of the reflection throughout the day, and the silence or at least non-manmade sounds you get to experience-turning off the excess noises of life. People need more engaging in silence. This entire experience humbles you, making you appreciate people in your life, and simple things, small things people take for granted.
Back to the hike though. We got to the bottom of that mountain with no nice breeze today to accompany us. Then got to a road where fleas were attacking me as we sat on a bench. Saw lots of cars-like 8 go by and one even made sure we were alright. I slid and twisted my ankle-of course I can hike through mountainous, rocky terrain and I’m fine, but I trip up when we get on a paved road. Hurt pretty bad but I kept going-we continued going down the next mountain and those 3 miles were pretty easy. The other downhill descent was very difficult, but this besides the “kamikaze gnats” right to the eyeballs wasn’t too shabby. We saw some guys on the bridge and talked to them for a bit. They were from Indiana. Indiana-I don’t know anything about that state-at all. There’s a bunch of states I’ll be alright if I don’t make it to like Iowa for example. Anyways, we passed Brown Creek on Brown Creek Trail where brown people used to live. Former slaves got/bought this land and used to plant corn and such around here. We’re actually staying right next to a swimming hole right basically on the trail-can hear the water flowing. I’ll probably wet the yoga matt with that noise all night. There’s actually a scary tale about a rock right next to where I’m sleeping. Actually, I can’t pick out he exact rock which is a good thing. Back in the white-people-were-fucked-up-and-flaunted-it-days, a slave owner whipped one of his slaves almost to death. That day, he and his horse walked by this rock and suddenly something grabbed them. However, they didn’t see anything though and kept riding along. That night, they both mysteriously died. I’m pretty scared right now. Moving on…I got to wash my hair! We only-yeah only hiked 7.2 miles today and got to camp early. I washed my clothes in the swimming hole and then we got into that freezing, freezing waterhole and washed ourselves amongst the crawdads and fish-one nibbled at my toe. Got all fresh and so clean clean and hung up the bearbags/trash and washed dishes after my fave velveeta and tuna. A friend and I once agreed it’s the best bang for your buck and best in the taste per effort ratio mmm. I eat that out in real life or whatever you want to call it, so out here it’s even better. Ok night. Ttyt, si Dios quiere. I’ll try to call my parents tomorrow, but I didn’t have any service today. Yay, I’m clean!
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