4/20

Happy Easter! 

I am never the first one to wake up in the morning, just the first one out of camp every day. I have decided that  ion longer find it a nuisance when I am awoken by my shelter mates. The days are quickly growing hotter and I plan on taking a long break during the heat of the day when the sun truly begins to beat down. If I can get into a routine of waking up at 5 or earlier then I can hike as the sun rises. For now 6:30 will have to do. 

My cold breakfast I may have to do away with when the weather gets hotter as well. I don't feel myself enjoying a warm lunch of oatmeal in the middle of the day. I will have to play that by ear and augment my grocery trips accordingly. 

Because the barn was located in the valley, the sun may have been up, it had yet to  break over the mountains surrounding it. I got out as quickly. A I could because after stopping early to enjoy the barn yesterday and also to avoid the sleet, I had managed to end up 7 miles behind my schedule for the day. After the barn the elevation quickly rose over 2 mountains. At the top of the second one I stopped to admire the beautiful turnaround in weather. A little wind at the top but past that the skies were clear and the day was bright. At this point I will say I was a little sad I was not enjoying some kind of Easter Sunday ham or mimosas or just some kind of Sunday shenanigans. The night before Easter at the shelter was all hopeful talk of what could be waiting for us at a large road that we would be crossing that day. I booked it to that road in hopes that a Easter roadside feast awaited me... 

There was no feast. 

I wasnt terribly heartbroken I must admit. I know that having high hopes that someone would be parked with a spiral ham on the side of the road is completely ridiculous, I just really wanted some ham or a chocolate bunny. I waited at the road for half an hour just in case and then carried my stomach void of Easter cheer down the trail. The day got hot quickly after my stop at the road. Considering I am not hiking with anyone and I am not even remotely trying to impress anyone, I began hiking with less clothes. Now before you get the wrong idea, I just hiked in my shorts, socks, and boots. It's so hot that my shirt throughout the day becomes drenched in sweat. When night falls it is still cold so while it's warm I choose partial nudity. At one point I passed a church getting out of Sunday service. I put my shirt on to pass the church thinking it would be in poor taste for a half naked hiker to pass the small town crowd in their Sunday best on Easter. 

My miles for the day optimistically were going to be 27.6.

I made the full miles. Today I also crossed the threshold of 400 miles. I have never been so happy to see a shelter. My only Easter celebration was a bag of fun sized M&M's another hiker gave me. I managed to eat almost the remainder of my food bag minus a couple packets of oatmeal and some instant grits. 

Tomorrow I will go to Kincora hiker hostel and pick up a hiker box sent from my dad with some food, a portable battery to help charge my i devices, and some waterproof Sea to summit bags. I haven't made as much progress into my books over the last week or so as I would hope. I am either socializing or being so tired I just can't stay awake to read. I need to work out a better system for writing/reading.