Miles Walked: 46.35 (205.63 total)
Elapsed Time: 23h 27m 08s
Sleep The Night Before: 55 minutes
Current Average: 51.4 miles per day
Existing Record: 51.4 miles per day avg (4 days, 11 hrs, 28.5 min total)I am one of those runners who tends to take races out to fast and then get slower as the race progresses — “negative splits” are really hard for me to achieve. I hoped it would be different on a hike than a run, but that’s definitely not proving not to be the case. I only achieved 46.35 miles today. That’s concerning, but because of what I banked earlier, it’s still a pace that should get me this record, so I just have to keep moving at this pace tomorrow!
As has become my habit, the first 1/4 mile today was an exercise in overcoming foot pain as my body got into a rythm. Once it did, I ended up moving pretty quickly through morning and afternoon.
I spotted too many turtles on the trail today to count. They feel like my friends out here. I saw zero people on the trail again — day 2 is the only day I’ve bumped into people. I’m really surprised by that, because the trail is extremely well maintained and usually that corresponds to heavy use. I’m probably doing this in the wrong season…
I set a new record for ticks! I pulled 47 off my legs just today, which brings my total so far to 110. I noticed a couple of the ticks because they hurt while they tried to bite into me. That was new — part of what makes ticks dangerous is that you don’t feel them when they bite and attach, but I guess some of them haven’t learned to attack gracefully. I’ve had so many ticks on me that I’ll definitely want to pay attention to how I’m feeling and whether or not I get any skin reactions when the hike is over and address those accordingly.
Today was hot and humid, especially when I dropped down low in Missouri’s “bottoms”. I really don’t like the bottoms — they’re the river/stream/creek valleys between mountains. They are spaced every couple of miles, and they’re overgrown, buggy, and more humid. Plus, they’re where my feet get wet. The trail goes from dry upland to muggy bottom, and it’s become a matter of dreading each bottom, then rejoicing on each upland. The uplands are really nice!
I was lucky to have relatively dry feet for a good portion of the day! It didn’t last forever, but it was heaven while it lasted. With the dry feet came a few brief waterless stretches where I managed to run out of water. It was never more than a couple of miles before I could fill up, and even temporarily running out of water on a hot day isn’t so fun. In the afternoon I noticed I’m running low on iodine tablets. I am supposed to put two tablets in each liter, but I had to switch to one… hopefully they still work!
I took a break to puncture a few blisters and re-tape my feet. They’re hanging in there, and I’ve started making promises to them that I’ll baby them after the hike if they just carry me to the end. I’ve also dramatically increased my ibuprofen intake as the trip progresses. It’s helping a lot!
My fast day came to an abrupt halt shortly after dark when I hit “Lost Creek” and got really confused. This was right before the Berryman section of the trail, which I was looking forward to because I’ve biked it before. The trail crossed a river that got really, really deep. I was worried it was deeper than I am tall, so I turned back to re-assess. The opposing bank was steep and tall and seemed unclimbable, except for one spot that had to be the trail. But that one spot was also a stream with a mini-waterfall dumping into Lost Creek and making it so deep. I found a place less deep to cross just downstream, climbed the steep bank, and then had to crawl over barbed wire to get back to what I thought was the trail. Next thing I knew, I was surrounded by poison ivy, potentially trespassing (there were no signs indicating that though), and unsure where the trail actually had gone. I made my way back to what my GPS said was the trail, and sure enough, it was the stream at the really deep spot in Lost Creek. I’m not sure what’s going on with the trail here — it could be that it was too dark to find the markers, I was too loopy to find the markers, or a spring flood washed the trail away. Regardless, the whole process took a really long time and I might pay the price later with a poison ivy reaction. Oh well.
A little before 12:00 am a thunderstorm started up. My feet were soaked, my fast day had already been ruined by Lost Creek, and I decided to take a nap with my shoes off. I used my Tyvek ground sheet as a “tent” over my bottom half, protected my top half with a rain coat, and leaned back on my backpack propped against a tree. This has become my favorite sleeping position. My plan had been to hike straight through the night, but hopefully a nap will give me the energy I need to get this done. I have 27.5 miles to go, and 17h 6m to do it in. That’s less than 2 miles an hour. I’m optimistic. Let’s Go!
