Sickness

On the 26th I did 9.3 miles and stayed at Sawyer Brook campsite. On the 27th I did 2.6 miles and went back home. I did zero miles on the 28th and 29th at home. On the 30th I did 12.2 miles and camped near Bemis Stream. On the 31st I did 16 miles and stayed at Piazza Rock shelter. On the 1st I did 16.9 miles and stayed at Spaulding Mountain shelter. On the 2nd I did 13.5 miles and stayed at the White Wolf Inn in Stratton. On the 3rd I zeroed at the Inn.

This was an interesting section for me. It started with a friend meeting up with me to hike. Knee issues cut that short after two days and I used that opportunity to go home for a few days. It allowed me to rest a little, dodge some thunderstorms and allow people to catch me. The other big event was me getting sick for the first time on trail.

On the morning of the 2nd I felt terrible but slowly hiked out of camp. It took me four hours to do 3ish miles and the terrain wasn't that tough. Slowly I started to feel better and pushed into town. I felt great that evening, everything seemed normal. At 2am I found out that was not the case. By 8am I wasn't constintently vomiting anymore and slept most of the day. My whole body hurt and I felt like death but luckily I was in town where I had running water and amenities to make my horrid illness less awful.

By the evening of the 3rd I am feeling better and hope to leave town tomorrow. I'm really hoping that last night isn't repeated tonight since I felt good yesterday evening too. On top of my body making me wish for the sweet release of death I also lost my shirt on the way into town. It had made it 1990 miles and I always had it strapped on the outside of my pack but I think it got snagged on a tree. I was hoping that one tshirt was going to last the whole trail. Basically the last 24 hours have sucked.

I guess I should post a photo or two. I am taking fewer and fewer photos as the hike goes on so the selection for the blog is getting a bit scarce.

There are 188.2 miles of trail left and I'm only three miles from the 2000 mile mark. Assuming I leave town tomorrow I'll be doing the last 4000 foot peak before Katahdin. It continues to feel strange how close it is to over. I had thought that since this was my second hike it would be less jarring to think about the end of the trail but in many ways it is more. When you add up both trips I've spent almost a year living in my tent in the woods. The thought of always being restricted by walls isn't overly appealing. I'm sure I'll get used to it once again though.