Day 135: Falling in Love with the ULA circuit

Miles Hiked: 26

Total Milage: 2336.2

This morning I woke up around 5am. I could see the sunrise from my cowboy camp and it was so pretty. It was freezing cold and all of my stuff was wet with Dew. My right knee was still swollen and hurting. I decided to stay in my sleeping bag for another hour just to give my body some more rest. I feel like my body is on the verge of falling apart. It’s so sore and tired and ready to be done hiking 20 miles a day. I feel weak all the time. Sometimes I have a good day but more often than not I’ve been feeling fatigued. I’ve now walked farther in one summer then I ever have before. I’m in new territory with my body. How will it react to hiking over 2200 miles?

I ended up getting out of my sleeping bag and packing up my things at 6:30 and leaving by 7am. I was really worried about how my knee would do today. Something just feels weird and wrong. It ended up being mostly fine. It doesn’t hurt to go uphill and if I walk a little slower downhill it’s fine. I should be more careful going downhill anyways. I know my body is tired and it’s easy to injure yourself when you are tired. People keep telling me congratulations and it makes me so nervous because all it takes is one very bad ankle twist and I’ll be going home early.

The first part of the day was on a very nice trail in a green tunnel of conifers. I was mostly focused on making it to the first water source 12 miles from camp. I hiked with Melon for a little bit and I was alone with my thoughts for the rest. I fell in love with my new pack today. My shoulders and back felt great while hiking for the first time since I can remember. It felt like I was carrying weight correctly. The hip belt was nice and tight and the suspension system was working great. I just couldn’t get over how awesome my upper body felt. What a relief! With my old pack I was taking lots and lots of breaks because everything hurt so bad. Now I don’t feel the need to! The only thing I’m nervous about is the long food carry we have coming up but I think I’ll figure it out by then. The only way to learn is by doing it!

We took a break by a water source that was about 0.3 miles off the trail and not marked on Guthook at all. After that was a big climb up to a beautiful ridge. While I was climbing I listened to some music and gave my friends Free Fall and Revolt a call. One I got up on the ridge it was so windy! My pack straps were hitting me in the face and it really hurt so I fixed it by buckling them down. I had to turn up my music to hear anything. I tried to take lots of pictures but it was so windy it was hard to. It felt like my phone was about to blow out of my hands. I caught up to Melon and 12 pack when they were eating dinner in the shelter of some short trees. I made biscuits and gravy for dinner and it was so good. I was still super hungry so I made one of the deserts Teresa and Nate sent me as well. I couldn’t get over how nice the package they sent me was. I felt so spoiled and lucky! The cheese cake was amazing and very filling. It was also high calorie so I might end up buying it again! I hung out by myself up on the ridge for a while longer. It was nice.

I hiked downhill the last two miles to camp and took my good old time doing it. When I got to the parking lot near the highway, I saw Melon and 12 Pack with their tents set up. An older gentleman named “Golden” was talking to them. He is a CDT hiker as well. He has his van with him because he is doing some sections that he missed. He offered to take us to town in the morning which was super nice! I’m glad we won’t be trying to hitch in the cold weather! I ended up cowboy camping because the night was supposed to be clear and I didn’t want to set up my tent. Hummingbird ended up giving me an extra poly cro ground sheet this morning which was super nice. I am so far behind on writing my blog right now it sucks. I tried to catch up written but once again I fell asleep before I could get much progress done. I’m starting to get stressed out about it.

Happy Trails!

-Early Bird