Appalachian Trail: Day 18
Disclaimer: This post is NOT sponsored. All the gear mentioned in this post was purchased by me at retail prices. I have no affiliations with any of the companies or brands mentioned.
I'm not sure which brand of backpacker meals Shaka has, but the directions are interesting. Like most freeze-dried meals, it's got the usual boil water, pour in bag, and wait some amount of time instructions, but on this particular brand during the wait step, it adds something to think about. Yesterday's was to contemplate the vastness of the universe or something like that. Today's asked if you hiked to lose yourself or find yourself.
I found that a very interesting question to ponder today while hiking. I think I would lean more towards the finding myself side, but there is a bit of losing myself in there as well. Hiking for me has always been more about calming and centering myself. There is a spiritual aspect to hiking and being out in the natural world that I don't get in modern society. One could argue it's almost a religious experience.
The other thing I found interesting today was how quickly my views on hiking have shifted. A few weeks ago, I was doing 8 miles for the whole day and that would take me 8 hours. This morning, I did 6 miles and thought of that as a quick hike. Granted, there terrain to consider. Today was mostly downhill, but it was still a difficult downhill that took me about 4 hours to do. Back when I hiked into Winding Stair Gap for the shuttle into Franklin, that was a quick 4 mile that included a climb over and down a mountain that was accomplished in a couple hours.
I also finally got a trail name, Whiplash. At the Wesser Bald Shelter, there is a bear cable system, but it's broken. The only part still working is the cable between trees. It made for a convenient place to do a PCT hang, so, of course, everyone was doing their hangs there. A fellow hiker ended up having an issue. The outer braiding on their line broke and their bag got stuck up on the wire. It was good enough for the night, so it got left. In the morning, while I was retrieving my own food, I tried to help out with the stuck bag. I pulled on the line, hoping I could get it to move enough that it would come lose. Instead, the inner core of the line snapped and whipped down and hit the back of my cold hand. It hurt, but fortunately didn't break skin or anything. And after the line snapped, the bag fell, so the hiker got their food and I got a trail name.