Quarantine

This next month was a test of mental strength. With no job, no school, and no excursions to visit people, trying to fill everyday with activities felt harder than any mountain I had climbed. My family had decided I needed to quarantine for 14 days. This meant no grocery store runs, no visiting family, and no visiting Danny. Don’t get me wrong sleeping in a bed and lounging was nice for the first few days, but after about 3 days all I wanted was to sleep on my thermarest in a tent. I began searching for local trails I could do to keep my strength up. Every nice day I had I was out walking with my pack. Then they closed all the state and county parks and forests in New Jersey. This was when I began to go stir crazy. Wake up, yoga, breakfast, workout, shower, lookup Appalachian Trail related closures, snack, watch tv, go for a walk, cook dinner, watch tv, sleep. This was what the next month and a half looked like for me. Then came the article that would change my outlook. “Smokey Mountains to reopen in phases May 9th. First phase to include back country camping.” The minute this news happened our tramily (trail family) had made plans to return to trail within 3 days. My days of lounging were over. We were getting back on trail.