I was only planning on walking 18 miles today, but Chestnut convinced me to do 21 so that I would have my first day over 20. He said that it gets easier after you’ve done it about three times. It started well – my legs and feet felt really good after my nearo and the distance wasn’t mentally bogging me down. Robert had bought me some jelly beans, which he had been told would help boost your energy when going long distances, so I ate a handful of these whenever I started to feel low. It really worked!
The hike itself was pretty uneventful, but I never got bored. I saw a skunk and a deer. I tried listening to my headphones but the battery died. I walked and walked. At about 19 miles I really started to get tired, and when I pulled into the shelter an hour later I was so exhausted I was clumsy. Jaywalker was there and he watched my clumsy legs fail me as I tried to step up into the shelter – it was my first fall in a shelter. I got water from a spring that seemed miles away, rewarded myself with Mountain House spaghetti and went to bed, way too exhausted to write very much.
Now we know why Ronald Reagan was all about the jellybeans.