Kevin's AT Thru Hike

Day 56, Wednesday, 5/11 – I woke up in a bit of a mood today. I’ve been in my head the past few days thinking about insecurities, recalling things I’m ashamed of and other regretful memories. Maybe this mindset has become more frequent because I’ve been hiking alone more than usual lately, and my mind has idle time to wander. I don’t mean to concern anybody with this comment. This mindset is relatively common for me. If anything, it is less prevalent on the hike than in normal life. Fortunately, my mind cleared up as the day progressed.

I stopped at a shelter for a midday break and had lunch with Tight Tights, Kodak, and Crow. Another hiker stopped in that I hadn’t seen before. I struck up a conversation with her and came to find out that she was Bebop’s sister. She was only planning on hiking for 30 miles, but I gave her the trail name “Rock Steady”. “Bebop”and “Rock Steady” are the names of two characters in the old Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon show. Martin and I had been chatting about “Bebop”and “Rock Steady” when he was hiking with me, so I’m glad I got the opportunity to bring it back up. I’ll have to check in with Bebop later to see if the name stuck.

I was chatting with Tight Tights about my numb toe. He said he also had numb toes, but was not concerned about the condition. He had heard from Blue Cheese that this condition is called “Christmas Toes.” Apparently, many thru hikers lose feeling in a few toes during the hike. Feeling starts to return a few months after the hike ends, which is typically around Christmas time.

I hiked 22 miles total to mile 667. It was getting dark, so I found an undesignated campsite near the intersection of the War Branch Trail and the AT. I’m camping alone for the first time since Whitley Gap on Day 4. There’s no rain in the forecast so I didn’t bother setting up my tarp. Hopefully it doesn’t rain.

I was setting up to cook dinner, when I thought I had lost my lighter. Without the lighter, I wouldn’t have been able to light the stove, which would have meant snacks for dinner. Fortunately, I ended up finding the lighter. It was a reminder that all of the items that I have with me have a purpose, and my life is directly impacted if any item is lost or broken. The same cannot be said for all of my items at home. Maybe I have too much stuff.