MM 2721.3: Today was rough. I wasn’t in the mood to hike, mostly because of the terrain. The section consisted of super vertical ascents and descents. I was also fully exposed to the sun since it was a burn area. I really thought it was going to be the first time I cried on trail due to frustration, but instead, I cursed out loud and pulled a temper tantrum. I hit my trekking poles on the dirt and yelled, “What the FUCK is this trail?!” I muttered to myself, “This is stupid” and trudged on. I looked up at the hills to get some peace of mind and tripped the second I took my eyes off trail. I fell and gashed my shin on a pointy rock. That was usually how it went when I was in a bad mood. As soon as I started to take my perceptions seriously, everything seemed to go against me.
I ran into a CYTC hiker named Professor. He had an inviting smile and I found him super cute. I raised my eyebrow and asked if he was actually a Professor and he said no. I thought to myself, Do you wanna pretend to be my Professor? We only talked for a moment since he was meeting someone at the road. He told me the trail was “cruisy” from from there to Canada. Pretty sure we all had different definitions of what “cruisy” meant. It reminded me of when PCT hikers said Oregon was flat. It was not flat.
Throughout the rest of the day, I kept getting whiffs of the hot wind thinking I was smelling my Dad’s homemade ribs. I stopped to camp at Dearborn River. Another thru-hiker stopped by to camp with me. It felt nice to have some company for the night. Several other thru-hikers walked by shortly after. It reassured me, yet again, how I never knew who was out in the wilderness until I stopped to get water, eat or camp. I felt extremely alone today, as though I was in a barren environment. It was so open and vast, I couldn’t see hikers anywhere. But, they were always there.
The guy camping with me asked if I heard about the free ride that would show up and pick hikers up at the trailhead at 5pm. I loved how we communicated through word of mouth versus a cell phone for information.
I ran into a CYTC hiker named Professor. He had an inviting smile and I found him super cute. I raised my eyebrow and asked if he was actually a Professor and he said no. I thought to myself, Do you wanna pretend to be my Professor? We only talked for a moment since he was meeting someone at the road. He told me the trail was “cruisy” from from there to Canada. Pretty sure we all had different definitions of what “cruisy” meant. It reminded me of when PCT hikers said Oregon was flat. It was not flat.
Throughout the rest of the day, I kept getting whiffs of the hot wind thinking I was smelling my Dad’s homemade ribs. I stopped to camp at Dearborn River. Another thru-hiker stopped by to camp with me. It felt nice to have some company for the night. Several other thru-hikers walked by shortly after. It reassured me, yet again, how I never knew who was out in the wilderness until I stopped to get water, eat or camp. I felt extremely alone today, as though I was in a barren environment. It was so open and vast, I couldn’t see hikers anywhere. But, they were always there.
The guy camping with me asked if I heard about the free ride that would show up and pick hikers up at the trailhead at 5pm. I loved how we communicated through word of mouth versus a cell phone for information.
