Today as I write from the inside of our wet tent, I am exhausted. It was a tough but rewarding day full of PUDS (pointless ups and downs) emotionally and terrain wise. It started with a climb to watch the sunrise as we ate our food on top of a mountain. We spoke of Philosophy (Simon has his Masters in it) and got to know each other more over oatmeal and coffee. The day was beautiful and we set off for another 14 mile day to Mountain Crossings. Today we had to climb Blood Mountain. The view from the top is supposed to be breathtaking and that probably would have been true if it hadn’t been raining. Part way up the mountain, we stopped for lunch at a shelter that was .4 miles off trail. That was the longest .4 miles of our lives. We trudged up, threw our packs down, and feverishly began preparing our lunches. Until you’re hiking 14 miles a day you really don’t know how hungry you can get. As the rain let up, the strenuous climb continued to the top of Blood Mountain. Danny and Simon pushed ahead as I kept my comfortable yet slower pace. I was near the top when I heard dogs barking and that was the only motivation I needed to get to the top of that mountain. My reward was 4 dogs running around. We met a man by the name of Cyclops and spoke with him about his adventures on the PCT from previous years. This man looked like he had rolled up the mountain instead of climbed. He stood towering over us with a soaked bumblebee yellow puffy jacket hanging from his body and dripping mud. His scraggly beard with flecks of dirt and food in it make him look like a full on mountain man and he stood there like a force to be reckoned with on top of Blood Mountain. Nearby there was a family who had also hiked to the top and this was the conversation we had with the dad
“Where y’all hiking to?”
“Maine!”
“WHAT?”
“We’re thruhikers. We started at Amicalola and are headed to Mount Katahdin in Maine”
*dad turns to his kids*
“Now I don’t wanna hear NONE of y’all complain about hiking the rest of today, those guys are hiking for 5 months”
I couldn’t help myself from laughing, but that quickly faded as we began our decent. The way down Blood Mountain was long, slippery, and muddy. My spirits had sunk towards the end of the day and I was doubting a lot. After 20 minutes of descending, we were getting a bit delirious and laughing at the strangest things. The woods’ll do that to you. We somehow made it to Neels just in time to get a pizza and look around the store. It was a backpackers heaven in there. Every food item you could ever imagine, every drysack, pack cover, clothing item, and any gear imaginable lined the walls. All three of us felt like kids in a candy store. We pitched our tents out back and started to go about our evening routines. Then came the bear bag fiasco. Danny had gone to hang the bear bag when I hear him yell.
“I got it stuck”
I walk over to see that the rock sack was lodged between a couple branches. We proceeded to swing the rope over and over trying to get it around branches. Ten minutes later we still had no clue what to do and when I went to get my knife to cut the piece of paracord and try a different method, I heard a crack as the rock bag came thudding to the ground along with a tree branch.
“I just yanked really hard and broke the branch and now it’s down!”
We went to try our luck on a different tree. Finally with our bags hung, we turn in for the night. I now understand what they meant when they said that everything would be wet forever. I turn over on my crinkly air mattress and doze off to the sound of the rain and dream of clean clothes and warm showers.
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