Hello true believers, it's that time again. It's been around 10 months since I took myself off the trail, but as of today I am back baby!
If you were reading my blog before, sorry about the abrupt ending. I wasn't certain I was leaving the trail until the day I did, and apparently I'm only good at motivating myself to write this when I'm trapped in the woods with little to do.
Anyway, here's a little backstory. In the past 10 months I got home, decided I had to come back out to finish the trail this summer, and was lucky enough to be offered a great job for a great company (thanks again Mo!). I've had a lot of possibilities when it came to hiking companions, but in the end I'm not sure if any of them will work out. So here I am, a lone wolf back in the woods, and so far it feels great!
I used this time between hiking to earn some money and upgrade my gear, which is how I got my base pack weight down to 11lbs, and I must say that is a serious upgrade to comfort.
After showering this morning I donned my old hiking uniform, the vague hint of sour reminding me of what I'm in for. Then I tossed my pack in my parents car at around 12:30pm, and we left toward Blue Mountain Summit B&B in PA. This is exactly where I left off last August, so I'm still on track.
Back at the good old trailhead, my parents dropped me off and took some pictures before I let the forest envelop me yet again. The trail definitely still has that vague feeling of home. I only had to take a single step onto the trail to discover what the loud buzzing I heard was. Locusts. I knew this was their year, and worried about them keeping me awake at night, but hadn't seen any all summer. Well that has changed as of today! I began my hike walking through a battlefield of fallen locusts. They make for crunchy hiking. 20 minutes in and I was sweating like crazy, but still feeling good. I had a lot of concerns regarding what kind of shape I'd be in after a 10 month break. My lungs are surprisingly strong, so that's a big plus, but my muscles have deteriorated quite noticeably.
I planned a short 6 miles today, seeing as it's my first day back. I started late (2:30pm), and the terrain was supposed to be very rocky. The trail didn't disappoint. After 3 miles of comfortable, confidence-building terrain, I hit the knifes edge. My pace slowed to a crawl because the trail was rocky, loose, and steep. The edge was absolutely one of the most dangerous sections of trail I've crossed. Leave it to me to start my journey here while I still have shaky legs. Obviously I didn't die, and even managed to finish without hurting myself. It's easy to forget how rocky it is out here, but once past it my pace picked back up and I made it to my shelter at 5:30pm.
Currently I'm sitting on a log gnawing on some pork jerky, watching the sun sink into the trees. I would like this shelter except for two problems. First, there's no reception, so I won't be posting this until tomorrow. Second, the shelter is chock full of wasps. So the question of the evening becomes simple: do I play it safe and set up my tent, or be lazy and risk it. So far I'm leaning towards risk.
