8/26/02

8:02 am - South Lake:  Just woke up at Carry lean-to.  Put in 13 miles yesterday and I feel pretty good this morning.

Last night was like wild kingdom here.  I saw a bear cub across the river flow.  At first I didn't know what it was but I kept hearing some sounds in the brush, it was certainly making a racket, and from the noise I could tell this wasn't something small.  I was starting to determine that it was likely a cub or juvenile based on the amount of foliage it was displacing and then I heard it stop, and it peeked its head out.  Just barely, caught a glimpse of me, froze, and disappeared back behind the brush..  Right about then I started to worry about the possibility of a mommy bear being around.  Luckily that wasn't the case.  The bear made quite a racket for another few hours, I could only surmise that he was abandoned and lost, or trying its damndest to find a way down to the waters edge.   

A rabbit visited me several times at night.  I saw a few bats and for the first time in my life, that I can recall, I saw a humming bird in the wild.  It buzzed past me and I swear I thought a plane flew just over head.  Boy were those flapping wings LOUD!  This is a very nice place and a cool experience, but the somewhat standing water made for one heck of a buggy night.  I've found that if you actually make an effort to kill as many of those blood suckers as you can before going to bed, you get a window of opportunity for a few hours of peace.

Someone left a recent Time Magazine in the lean-to so I devour it from cover to cover.  Great article about potential war crimes in Afghanistan.  A bit chilly right now, I think I will give it another half hour to warm up before I take off.

9:00 pm - Stephens Pond:  Well that was excruciating.  I mean that was really tough!  probably the most uncomfortable I've been in a long time.  The trail out of Carry lean-to was agreeable and when I first hit the log road and then the dirt road leading into Wakely Dam everything was fine.  I actually enjoyed the change of pace the smoother surfaces offered.  But 4 hours later the dirt turned to gravel and the gravel to blacktop and my feet to mush.  I seriously wanted to quit on the blacktop road up to McCane's.  Every turn in the road I was hoping would be the last, but of course each turn produced more roadway, more blacktop and more anguish.  Ughhh!  I reached Stephens pond in bad physical and even worse mental condition. I have developed a blister on the very bottom of my right heal.  RIGHT ON THE BOTTOM!!!  Where all of my weight comes to bear on every other step.

I truly fear that this may be the TKO punch that I have been flirting with since about the 2nd day.  Unless I am severely underestimating my bodies ability to heal itself.  The only bright positive thought I have right now is that I am going to be meeting my mom at the Blue Mountain trail head tomorrow for a scheduled lunch date.   So that gives me the rest of tonight and 3 miles tomorrow to somehow improve my condition.  The thought just occurred to me that this may be my last entry... but as I mentioned, I'm in a horrible mood right now and my mental condition is not the best.  

I have done over half of the trail but I have to remember that this trip is about enjoyment and I am miserable right now.  At points this nice walk has become a trial of calculated and carefully placed steps in an attempt to reduce the pain that some new red and raw spot on my feet will cause.

Stephens Pond is nice but as you can tell I am not in the greatest of moods.  It is very wild here... a frog actually attacked my water filter while I pumped water.  I put the filter in there, and splash, the thing jumped out of the water and wrapped around the tube... damn near scared me to death.  I also saw several leeches in the pond as well.  Bats zoom by my head in the pre-dawn race for food.  Unfortunately they barely dent the insect population here.  Mosquitoes in waves - attack and counterattack.  I sit here literally drenched in Jungle Juice trying to fight them off.  When I reach trail head tomorrow I will have trekked 70.05 miles - that is about half of the original 133 and adequately more than half of the modern 121.65  -  so I guess I cant feel too defeated if I have to quit.  Dare I say, there is always next year?