Musings
of a Thru-Hiker
Hikers
at the Walasi-Yi(continued)
After a restless night of tossing, turning, and dodging the air ducts as
Dick Cates and Scott Richards snored, and Coleman whined, morning finally
arrived. It rained most of the night, and the gear that was left out on the
porch was soaked. I got up early in order to do laundry and repack my gear.
After seeing the blisters of others and hearing their complaints, I
became much more aware of my own feet. This was the first time that I had the
chance to take a good look at them in the light. I knew that I had some
blistering since I had been stopping regularly to add moleskin and reposition
my socks. The push into the Neels Gap was just too much, and by now I
was limping noticeably. I did not want to lace my boots up and strike out
again. A day or two to lay over would give my feet time to heel and also
give me time to prepare myself emotionally to deal with the trail. However
the standing policy at the Yi is one night for hikers. I decided to
delay as long as possible before attempting to convince the people at the Yi to
let me stay another night. The warm dry bed, hot shower, and wholesome
meals forced me to reassess my reasons for hiking the trail. The Yi was warm
and comfortable. It is no wonder that fully a quarter of the would be
thru-hikers end their attempts here.
I still needed to go through my gear and get advice on reducing my pack
weight. In the meantime I called home, and picked out goodies from the camp
store, and made an entry in my journal. The trail had been all I had
hoped so far: My feet were blistered, my pack was heavy, I camped in rain, and
I was falling further behind schedule each day. In fact I had not met
any of my goals. It seemed that I was travelling much to slow and that I would
never make it to the Smokies much less all the way to Maine.
Breakfast was served. It was great. An egg casserole, plenty of bread
and jelly, fruit, and coffee and juice. A jar of peanut butter and a jar of
honey were available to quench any undying appetites. Everyone ate
heartily. The plates were cleaned down to the last crumbs almost
instantly. Hiking certainly stimulates the appetite.
As we cleared the breakfast dishes and cleaned the living area, Huff
and Puff prepared to start out. They were soon followed by the Florida Flyers
and Dick Cates. The honeymooners were slower gathering their gear and did not
head out for another hour or two. Finally, Gadget, PT and Coleman, and
I were the only ones left. Gadget had already gone through his gear and was
just lingering about nursing his tendonitis and sore heel. He did not want to
leave either. PT and Coleman were looking about for scraps and
discarded gear. They finally left and slowly headed down the trail. I found
one of the people at the Yi, and together we went through my gear.
I decided that if he could save me enough weight that I would buy a water
filter. Several others carried filters, and they recommended them over iodine
treatments due to the potential ill effects of long term iodine usage. Of
my base gear, only a few small items were removed. My repair kit was
reduced to needle, dental floss, one mattress patch, one tent patch,
and a small tube of glue. The following items were returned : a fifty foot
section of light-weight nylon rope(for hanging bear bags), one pair of
long kakki cotton pants( replaced with lighter nylon wind pants), two quart
plastic bottles( used for liquid foods and as extra water bottle), one pair of
long polypropylene underwear bottoms, a wool shirt, and two external side
pockets for the pack. The entire weight returned was less than 20 ounces. In
addition I picked up a long sleeve polypropylene shirt, several small blister
kits and moleskin packs, a small bottle of hydrogen peroxide, and a few candy
bars. I was able to ship the side pockets home since I had eaten several days
worth of food leaving more room in my pack so that all the external gear now fit
in the pack with a little pushing. The weight savings did not cover the
weight of a water filter so I kept my iodine tablets. The biggest assistance
I received was the expert re-fitting of my internal frame pack.
Originally I was fitted with a fifty pound load fully dressed with a
lightweight jacket. Unfortunately while on the trail, I wore
considerably less clothing and carried a much heavier pack.
Re-fitting the shoulder harness, removing the lateral tension straps, and
re-adjusting the hipbelt vastly improved the pack weight distribution.
In addition removing the external side pockets moved the pack weight more
directly over my center of gravity. It has been said that one wears a gregory
pack, and now with proper fitting I could already feel the
difference. This greatly helped my disposition, but it did not change
the way my feet felt.
After dragging around until after lunch time I finally accepted the fact
that I must move on down the trail. I was determined to take it easy and reduce
the wear on my feet. It was difficult watching the other thru-hikers leave
before me.
The scout troop passed through around ten o'clock. They cleaned out
the store's ice cream and made a considerable dent in the supply of candy
bars. I was disappointed to hear the proprietor run them out of the store.
Evidently he had been the victim of numerous pilferings by small kids before,
and he did not want to suffer that again. That incident was the only down spot
of my entire stay at the Walasi-Yi.
I started out with my re-fitted pack, new attitude, bandaged feet,
and clean body intent on catching the scout troop one last time. I met
them heading south back toward Whitley Gap. We camped there for the night.
Peace, Slim
Copyright 1991-2000, all rights reserved
This is a fictional account of an actual Thru-Hike in 1990. Any resemblance to
specific individuals or events is purely coincidental.
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