Washed by the Water

I was originally going to title this post "Top 5 Reasons why Today was the Worst Day Ever," but there were a couple of problems with that.  First, it would be really hard to narrow the list down to 5, much less pick the top one (it rained ALL day, my right heel launched a full scale rebellion against this hike, I accidentally left for the last 7 mile leg of the hike without my water bottle... you get the point)  Secondly, since my mom reads this blog I need to keep it rosy so that she doesn't drive up here, yank me off the trail and run dad through the ringer for not doing it himself.

No, that's not a scenic babbling brook, that's the trail!

So, in honor of my fellow SVDP'er Karen Williams who often tells me to "Stop being such a BABY," I'll list the 5 best things that happened today.

5. In the middle of the deluge, the song "Washed by the Water" by Need to Breathe came on.  That became my theme song for the day.  Give it a listen sometime.

4. I ended my 21 mile hike today at mile 99.5 of the trail.  I checked with Steve Calme, and he told me that that rounds to 100 (he went to St. X so he would know).  100 miles baby!!!

3. My wife still doesn't think I'm crazy for trying to do this.  (If she does, she hasn't told me and us men are no good at nonverbal cues so I would have no idea.)

2. Impeccable support from dad today.  I came to a road crossing about two thirds of the way through the hike.  I walked up to the car and he handed me a cheeseburger, which I ate in about 90 seconds!!!

1.  Around mile 14, the trail passed a small cave. Chuck Norris was in the cave drying his shoes and socks over a fire.  I asked him how far he was going for the day, and he said he had planned to walk 21 miles but just couldn't take the rain anymore.  I gave him a tissue (he was crying) and headed down the trail. What a Baby!

Large beaver pond skirted by the SHT.

At any rate, while today was without question my hardest day yet, I set out to do 21.3 miles, and in spite of unending rain and flooded trails I got it done.  I'm definitely at a low point after three straight days of rain, but the forecast is looking better tomorrow, so hopefully my mood (and the smell of our car) will improve!

Matt