19.5 miles today
36.1 miles total
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Today kicked my ass! I tired to knock out as many miles as I could on Segments 2 & 3 since they have the least amount of elevation gain and they’re known to be a little boring compared to the rest of the trail. I still think it was beautiful! The first 7 miles were great! Most of it was uphill, but I started at 6am so it was cool and I was ready to go! The following 3 miles were a little more difficult since the sun was coming up and there was little shade.
Ten miles in, around 10:30am, I finally arrived at the water source, which is actually a little-used fire station. They had a spigot with fresh water and a bench in the shade ? Everything a hiker could ask for in a mid-day break. After the fire station I started Segment 3, and oh my goodness sooo many mountain bikers on this segment! I feel like I was constantly moving of the trail to get out of their way add they zoomed by. Luckily most of them were nice, but geez! The last 4.5 miles of the day we’re rough. I did see a deer though, right by the trail so that was cool ? It’s like it didn’t even care that I was there ?
My body is still getting used to this crazy amount of hiking. I think I was also under calories, because all I wanted to do was stop and take a nap ? But I still made it to camp which is right next to a rushing creek. Perfection! Whenever you can get a water source and a good campsite, I’d call that a win! I arrived at 4:30 and immediately soaked my aching get in the cold water and made myself some dinner. After that I found a great campsite out of the way, set up my tent, filtered some water, stretched, stretched and stretched some more, then sat by the water until 7. Probably my favorite part of the day ? I’m a little nervous about tomorrow. It’s when the real hiking begins. I’ll gain 3000ft in elevation over 15+ miles. Hoping my body is ready for this ?
