CT Day 4 - 17.1 miles We woke up this morning after a somewhat sleepless night. The rain & t

CT Day 4 - 17.1 miles We woke up this morning after a somewhat sleepless night. The rain & thunder stopped as soon as it came last night, but the wind blowing all night kept me awake worrying about falling trees. Our alarm was set for 4:30, but I don’t think we actually got up until 5:30. It was cold and I sat in my sleeping bag for a while before packing up my things. We argued a bit this morning, Nate wanted me to be faster at getting ready so he didn’t have to stand in the cold waiting, I wanted him to be more patient with me. The good thing about the trail is there’s no escaping each other, so the only option is just to talk it out. Which, actually makes the miles go by pretty fast. We did a steep climb and at the top we met Mike, who hiked the Appalachian Trail 20 years ago and since then has hiked all the fourteeners. He hiked with us for the next few miles, then passed us. He’s a pretty fast hiker. It was nice to have the company for a bit. A few miles later, we met up with Riley, Debbie, and Courtney. Riley & Courtney are around our age, Debbie is older, maybe 60s, and she’s hiking with two small stuffed animals her grandkids gave her. She’s been taking photos of them at various parts of the trail to send to her grandkids, which is super cute. I have a lot of respect for the older people we meet on trail, because if this is hard for me, I cant imagine how hard it might be for someone with a lot more years than me. It’s also so inspiring, I hope to take my mom backpacking with me sometime. Debbie, Riley, & Courtney have been hiking together the past few days and plan to stick together through Breck. They’re an eclectic little group - Debbie the grandmother, Riley the marijuana trimmer, and Courtney the grad student. Why or how they decided to stick together is beyond me, but I love the way that the trail brings people from all different parts of life together. The day was relatively easy, not too much up and down. I keep waiting for the day when the soreness in my feet will ease up. I know the first few days of any backpacking trip always make your feet hurt, but man, I just want them to stop throbbing so much. I remember this pain from the PCT though, and I know it gets better. We set up camp nearby a water source. At some point in the day we passed Mike while he was napping probably. He came by and hung out at our camp for a bit. While we were all laying around talking, I looked down and saw something gold and shiny on the ground. I picked it up and brushed it off to find a Sacajawea dollar. What are the odds?! Who would hike with a Sacajawea dollar?? Hah. I finally got a trail name: Snackajawea (because, well, snacks). I’m considering shortening it to just “Snack” though, because as much as Sacajawea is an inspiration, I’m not sure I could bear her name without feeling like I’m appropriating something that could be disrespectful to others. Today was longer miles, but still seemed relatively easy. We got to camp by 4pm, and hiked at a pretty leisurely pace with several breaks including a midday nap. I’m glad we’re taking this first week easy and not pushing too much. I dont want to get injured or too worn out before we get to the real climbs. We’ll keep increasing our mileage slowly until we’re averaging around 20-22 miles a day or so. Until then, I’m gonna enjoy these lower mileage days. -- source link

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