Miles: 275.3 | A sleepless, emotionally heavy morning turns into a long day of relentless uphill and quiet miles alone. A podcast episode hits far closer to home than expected, stopping me in my tracks beside a small pond — and sending me into a long stretch of tearful phone calls, homesickness, and soul-searching. Familiar faces at a shelter offer reassurance I didn’t know I needed, reminding me I’m still here, still hiking. The day ends slowly at camp, exhausted, sweaty, chilled despite layers, and painfully human — but still moving forward.
It was rough getting up on this morning. I was so tired, my weekend of supposed ‘relaxation’ was exhausting and kind of stressful for me. It was great to get trail magic from Journeyman but getting to and from Asheville along with all of my chores I had to do, I didn’t sleep much. All day was steep uphill climbing. It was finally warm. I walked, a bit delirious, all day. Tired and slow.
Along the walk this day I was mostly alone, leaving long after Josh but far before Tang. I stopped at a small man made pond about five miles in. I was listening to an episode of Hilarious World of Depression. An episode featuring singer/songwriter/rock extraordinaire Rhett Miller. In the episode Rhett recounts the incident of his suicide attempt, his memories of it, and how he became so successful as a musician.
Most importantly, he shared what stopped him: his little sister. His experiences were unbelievably similar to mine. His thought patterns and existential crises exactly as I experienced them. It shocked me. Blown away by this episode, I sat on the bench by this little pond and called home.
I was homesick. All day. I called my mom, then my dad, then my friend. I sat there for a solid hour and a half.
Sobbing and trying to pull myself together, I finally got up and walked. It was a sunny day. I wanted to be happy and appreciative but, honestly, I felt tired, weak, uncertain, and homesick. I tried to walk it off.
I ate lunch at a shelter on the way to camp and saw Which Way and Next Step for the first time in a while! Remember them from Sassafras Gap Shelter after NOC? I was glad to see their friendly faces. They were surprised to see me still hiking. They told me they had worried about me for weeks, thinking maybe all of my gear problems had forced me to go home. We were all happy that I proved their worries wrong!
I got to camp that night and set up my tent slowly. Maverick, a hiker Josh knew stumbled upon our campsite and asked if he could join us. We obliged and he set up his tent next to mine.
I chatted with Josh, Tang, and Maverick over dinner and went to bed early. I snuggled into my sleeping bag, realizing I smelled horrible from all of the sweat I produced that day. One day out of town and I already stunk.... I slept on top of a fleece blanket my mom sent me, on top of my sleeping pad, inside my 20 degree sleeping back with my 14 degree bag liner. It was only about 40 degrees this night, I was still chilly.