Day Two. What goes up.

Thank you for the replies, I am grateful for the comments and comfort with my candid style. I write my reality which most of the time amuses me in my head only. If you liked that, good thing because it’s all I know how to do! 😀

I woke up the morning of Day Two, actually “wake up” is not accurate, I arose and looked at my maps, redid the math, chose life, then texted my friend Kristy to see if she would make the journey to meet me at the trailhead. I was going to hike out and bypass the certain doom. No shame in staying alive, just wait till you hear about Day 3 😉

It took me a good while to break camp. My body was stiff, not pained really but just not moving very well. I didn’t have the energy or appetite to eat, so I ate half a Cliff bar until Buzzles the bee became interested. No biggie, stomach was weird anyway. Such friendly critters up in this hill. Then…it was that time. We’ll call it “dig a hole” time. Bleh. When your legs are not working very well, it is like doing a wall squat for way longer than you should. I’m surprised I’m not still stuck there. Buzzles did not seem as curious for this event.

Moving on. Let me tell you… climbing the mountain was one thing. It was difficult, and slooooow, but not painful. Coming down on the other hand introduced me to hurts I didn’t know existed! How many feet parts do we have (??), because every single one was screaming, and ankles…uhhhh, ouch. Was not expecting that. Plus trying to be cautious of the million-mile drop I was avoiding with my stiff legs. Still took me half a day to get down. “Switchback to switchback. One step at a time. I don’t get closer by stopping”

The last mile I wasn’t even walking, I was falling forward with The Hulk (my pack) pushing me. My beautiful friend was waiting at the trailhead with a MTHRFKING DONUT!!!!! Dammit, I have good friends.

Now, for one minute I did not consider quitting, but knew a re-eval had to happen. So we went to her house. she made me a hamburger, I repacked and resituated everything until I had at least ten lbs taken off my pack. It made a world of difference.

I had been at a “threshold” before, where lifting and trying to get my pack on was a feat every time. Over 40 lbs was plain stupid, and I had no business trying to pack in 8+ days of food. Hint: Poptarts weight about 17 lbs each! Whose bright idea was it to call them trail food? Jk. So with a pack weight I could manage, closer to 30, some warm clothing additions, and a comatose sleep…I was ready to hit a more doable section in the morning.

Oh yeah, I could feel my toenails pulling off of my toes on the downhill. Ick. O.o