After an extended vacation from my vacation, I'm back on the path of the beam. During my week and a half of not hiking I got a lot done. I finally saw Moonrise Kingdom (fantastic), The Dark Knight Rises (great), and my cousin Shannon getting married (joyous). There was also time spent with family and a couple of friends, and plenty of entertainment downloaded to my phone in anticipation of my return to the trail.
Chris gave me a ride back, with the plan of hiking with me until the 3rd of August. We left NJ around 11am on our journey to the AT museum and site of the half gallon challenge. It felt like so long ago, until the moment we pulled up. Then no time had passed at all.
We ate a small lunch, and found some extended parking to stash his Jeep before finally setting foot onto the trail. The plan was to hike 7.5 miles to the first shelter, but didn't start hiking until about 3pm. By 6pm we had come 3.8 miles and found a small nondescript campsite. As Chris was pretty beat, and a storm was very quickly blowing in, we decided to make camp with haste.
It was a very short day, but I'm just happy to be back out here. I lost one hiking partner, and gained a temporary one. That helps to make this seem like a whole new hike. We missed the rain last night, each huddled in our respective tents, but now have to push further today to make it into town. The need for food and water always helps to motivate. The sun is coming up in earnest now, so it's time to drag down the bear bags, stuff away my tent, and start being a hiker again. Damn, it feels good.
One last thing, since it's been a while since I've written one of these, I have to say thank you. Of course thank you Mom and Vince for picking Mr. Fantastic (now known as Tim) and me up from the trail. That was amazing, especially on short notice. Also thank you Vicky, Bill, and Melanie for your generous and needed donations. Without your help there would have been a strong chance that I couldn't have made it back out here. So thank you in advance for all the pain and fatigue you've granted me!
Now, back to hiking.
