First Week on the AT
Fayetteville PA - Mile 69.8 - Apr 26th, 2016
As of this morning I've hiked 69.8 miles of the AT and been out there for 7 days. Over all I'm having more fun than I thought I would. I have a little trail family already! At home it can take me months or years to make friends. There's Captain Jack, Nibbles, Survivor, Shoelace. My trail name is Cookie. These guys have my back. On the worst day so far everyone got so far ahead of me, I was by my self all day. My feet and ankles were killing me, I had to climb up and down huge boulders three times for no reason. I did a slip'n slide down one of them. Wish I had a video of that! It was pretty dramatic. One good thing about being in the woods by yourself is you can scream and cry and cuss and no one can hear you! Anyway, after all that my little family was waiting for me at the end. They waited for over 2 hours! I thought I wanted to get out here to be alone, but one of the best things so far has been the people.
I did make it out of Maryland and into PA. That was an exciting first milestone! Yesterday we slack packed 11 miles in the rain. It was really pretty easygoing. Plus to stay warm you walk faster. The best part was knowing I'd get to stay in a nice, warm, dry bed at the Trail of Hope Hostel. Absolutely wonderful place and people that run it are too. $22 for a bed, hot shower, and dinner. Can't beat that!
I know this might sound cliche, but when things get tough out here, I think about Ross Ulbrichtw sitting in prison for life and think, I have the option to do this or not. I have all sorts of choices. He has none. Sitting in that hotel room for three days really kind of psyched me out. I was really doubting myself. I was in my Free Ross t-shirt, in front of the mirror brushing my teeth. His black and gray face looking at me and just thought to myself "if he can go through what he's going through involuntarily, I can certainly go through this voluntarily."
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Cookie
Fayetteville PA - Mile 69.8 - Apr 26th, 2016
