Since my last post I have started and finished the Appalachian Trail. All 2,189 miles of it and it took from March 8th to September 9th. I started with a friend who had done it before and who I happened to meet at the Panera in Morgantown. The choice I made to date and move in with my now ex-boyfriend directly lead to me being able to hike the trail. A whole lot of things in my life fell apart so that my dream of doing the trail could fall together. I left college with a general studies degree instead of a teaching certificate when a family emergency distracted me from my studies and I chose to say yes to someone who I knew wasn't a good fit for me but who I fell for anyway. My job at Panera was a health hazard for me because I ran around the dining room for 8 hours, getting 10+ miles in a day and I felt I couldn't eat often enough with how long my to do list was. I ended up losing weight and I only weighed 115lbs to begin with. But all of these things were lining up so that I could pursue my dream of through-hiking the Appalachian Trail.
On the trail at the very beginning, I was getting a new blister everyday thanks to shoes that were too big and inserts that only supported half of each foot...essentially, they were sliding up and down the length of my shoes. I was also struggling with a pack that was way too heavy and evasive sleep. Each night I would have maybe four dreams and then be wide awake between each of them due to how disturbing they were. One by one though, the problems got sorted out. I got a more comfortable sleeping pad; I sent 2 boxes of stuff home from Suches, GA on the 3rd day; bought new inserts and started wearing 2 pairs of socks. Eventually I bought some ZQuil too. I kept thinking I'd get tired enough for the sleep problem to resolve itself but that didn't seem to be the case.
I ended up with the trail name Two-Pack because my pack looked really fat and I really do look that small. People would say that it looks as though it weighed about as much as me. Trail names are a fun aspect of the cultural subset present in the hiking community. Even section hikers will end up with trail names. They are often given based on mistakes hikers make or due to funny stories of other kinds. For example, there was a Big Bad Wolf because this particular hiker had 3 boar piglets follow him through the Smokies and he kept trying to scare them away so their mother wouldn't chase after him and yet they'd come back a few moments later each time he scared them away. Then there was a woman named Prince Charming and a man named Cinderella because she found his camp shoe and brought it to him. I met a section hiker who was doing part of the trail with his friend and he decided an appropriate name for her was Pantry...you can guess why.
After completing close to 700 miles of the trail I caught some serious illness that...let's just say it caused me to run out of toilet paper rather quickly. I waited 3 1/2 days before going to a clinic. Not only did I presume that it would go away on its own, but we also had 2 more days of hiking before we would arrive in a place where I could do so. We get to a hostel on Friday, May 13th and after a long night in the hostel, I again decide to believe that it's over. Well, I felt better because I was empty and shortly after starting off again from the hostel, it comes roaring back and not only that but my friend falls ill too. We make it to the next road, 6 or 7 miles away and get a ride back to the hostel so we can get to a clinic.
In the end, I end up with prescriptions for Cipro and Metronidazole and started taking them that night while my hiking partner, who couldn't get any medicine (he forgot to bring an insurance card), decided outright that he's going to quit and go home. Right after completing my medicinal regimen, I get back on the trail and for some reason ended up doing 134 miles in a week. I figured out that a big part of this was that I felt I deserved to suffer some more since I probably helped my friend quit. Each time we got to a shelter, I would tell the people there about how even though I'm 23 (now 24 since June), my parents didn't want me to do the trail alone...within earshot of my friend. I was feeling terrible about having done that so often and felt that I deserved all the physical pain. It took me a while to forgive myself. We all want to feel empowered and I am no exception; so the fact that my parents required me to start with someone hurt my ego more than I realized.
Now the positive side of this story is that while staying in the nearby town of Daleville, I was able to share a room with someone I had met earlier and he too had medicine to take due to an upper respiratory infection of some kind. Plus, the very next day, we meet this couple who not only have hiked the trail, but are offering to be our chauffeur and take us out to lunch and dinner. We go to Chipotle for lunch and they manage to use various coupons to get 3 free burritos then we go to Golden Corral for dinner that night and even a grocery store for probiotics since I knew the antibiotics would cause me some problems. They were also generous enough to help me get the 20 miles I missed between the hostel and Daleville and had offered to drop me off on the right road. The trail goes right into town and spits you out right next to the hotel we were staying in. It was perfect and free so I said yes. The hike took way too long for someone on 2 heavy meds, even though all I brought was food and water; I had only had 2 nights of good sleep after having had 3 nights of next to no sleep. The 20 miles took almost a whole hour longer than it should have; I was hiking from 8 AM to 4 PM.
Again, things fell apart so that something great could fall together. I'll post the 2nd portion of the trip tomorrow.
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