September 3
Miles: 11.9
Mile Markers: 2580.1 – 2592.0
Miles to Canada: 63.8
Listening to: Graeme James – Young Blood
I haven’t been setting alarms because I’ve been trying to sleep a little bit more, but by the time I woke up at 6:15, a bunch of people who had camped near me were already gone. I poked my head out and Polka Dot and Bodybag were already packing up their packs. Their tents were already down. It made me really sad all of a sudden. Everyone was leaving.
First, Polka Dot came over to say goodbye, and it felt again like one of the worst goodbyes I’ve had to say on the trail because it felt like a sure thing this time. Just like Marmot and Mr Emoji, it wasn’t a Maybe I’ll see you down the trail. It was, I definitely won’t see you again on the trail. The goodbyes I’ve said the last two days are starting to hurt a lot more.
Happy Feet came over to say goodbye as well, and I very likely wouldn’t see her again either. And then Bodybag and I were the only two left at the campground. We talked about how these goodbyes are so painful, but she said that she knew she’d see me again because I’m part of the tramily, and there are so many tramily reunions that we’re going to go on.
Bodybag quickly hiked off past me and I didn’t see her again. I hiked alone for maybe 30 minutes, before I came across Happy Feet at a water source. She said I must be hiking fast because I wasn’t even finished packing up when she left and she hadn’t been at the water for more than 5 minutes. I thought I was hiking extremely slowly but I guess not.
We hung out at the water for a while and kept hiking. I had wanted to stop at every single water source to dunk my shirt because it was so hot and also just take a break because I really didn’t have to get to camp or do any kind of crazy miles. So why not just take my time and enjoy all the little rivers?
We hiked together most of the day, stopping at all the water sources until we came to one that was just a little bit off trail and by then it was about 11am, and I wanted to stop and take a lunch break and possibly go swimming based on one of the FarOut comments, and Happy Feet came with me. We ended up staying by the river for over three hours, going in the water naked and then just hanging out laying around taking a nap. It was a real proper siesta. I hadn’t really ever hung out with Happy Feet just the two of us before and she was really cool and I really enjoyed our time together.
I was very consistent taking ibuprofen today, and my hip started feeling a little bit better in the afternoon so I hiked ahead to the campsite that I was going to stay at and Happy Feet caught up maybe 15 minutes later. After I had set up my tent, she said she was going to go on and try to hike some more miles. I tried to vortex her and get her to stay, but she was determined to keep hiking on. I probably could have kept going as well. I actually felt pretty good, but I might as well not push it too far. My hip is feeling pretty good, but at the same time I don’t know if that’s the ibuprofen or Tylenol tricking me that it’s fine when maybe it’s not.
It feels crazy that there’s only 6 days left until the end of the trail – less than a week. I’m ready for it to be over, but I’ll miss spending my whole day in nature, running into these people that I’ve grown to love so quickly and not really having my outside world cares. I don’t want to go back to that part of it, but my body doesn’t want to hike everyday anymore. I won’t miss it. Or, maybe I will, a little.
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