May 8th, 2016
Miles Hiked: 20
Total Miles: 206
Start Location: HW 18 Mile 266
End Location: Campsite Mile 286
End Location GPS: 34.30194, -116.97918
It was a beautiful day but Carolyn is feeling out of sorts. I don’t think that she wants to continue on and she is having a tough time psychologically. This makes me sad because there isn’t anything I can do to change how she feels. I guess you either like thru hiking or its just not for you. Both are okay and why continue doing something that makes you unhappy?
I hope that a good nights sleep will make her feel better about the hike. Sometimes that’s all you really need to reset and recharge.
Thru hiking is hard. It’s easy to forget myself how hard it was when I first started to hike. I tried to hike the 90 miles of the AT in Massachusetts one summer during college and didn’t make it two days. Subsequently, I tried to thru hike the Long Trail the summer after I graduated from college and only lasted a week. Carolyn has already got me beat in terms of what she’s accomplished her first long hike, and I’m so proud of her for what she has done so far. It takes a lot of courage and will to do this kind of thing.
I hope she decides to keep going. I know that she has it in her to succeed.
Hard night. Time to sleep.
