July 28, 2013

July 28, 2013
Saddle to Anthill Spring
21 miles

I think today was my lowest point yet on the trail. I don't know what it was exactly, but it felt like someone just sapped the energy from me. Physically lethargic as well as mentally, not a good combination. I think it may be due to not getting enough calories yesterday as well as the higher mileage in the past week without a real break. It was the first day out here that I questioned why I'm doing this. Fortunately, around noon-thirty I think the food I ate today finally kicked in and I started feeling better both physically and mentally.

Also, this morning I met a few more northbound thru-hikers. The first couple I met were Gnar and Pod, and the second couple were Portrait and Castle. It was good to run into some more people to talk to and I look forward to continuing that trend for a while.

I got to camp for the night just after 2pm and had the chance to take a nice nap. After 2+ hours of resting my eyes, I finally decided I should go get some water so I could cook dinner. I ate about half my dinner of curry couscous with almonds and then put the rest aside since it was kind of bland (I forgot to add salt).

Around 6:30 I saw two red shorts coming down the hill and ran out to greet Optimist and Stopwatch. After some stinky hiker hugs were exchanged they came and set up camp next to me and we proceeded to talk until 10:30 about all kinds of things. It was definitely great to see the two of them, particularly after the downer morning I had. One topic that came up was the fact that they still need to finish a section of trail in Colorado they had to skip due to a fire. It looks like it may work out such that I hike the section with them after they hit the Canadian border because we have about the same number of miles to do before I get to Salida and they get to Canada. That would definitely be a good time! Here's hoping it works out.


Sometimes all it takes
Is conversation with friends
To make things better