Julie atop Clingman’s Dome
I have begun to repeat my old habits from the PCT. I find myself looking at my watch, looking at the data book, screaming at a seemingly endless uphill…when will I learn that I make it harder on myself by expecting so much? These last two days have been the hardest mentally and physically hard miles for both Optimist and myself. We’ve had big ups and big downs, and not much flat in between to recover.
These last two days have also been a realization of how a trail works. It goes up, it goes down, and then repeats. I look at an uphill and wish the creators of the trail would figure out how to make it flatter, but I’m not sure their purpose in mind was just to create the easiest walk in the woods possible. If there were such a trail, I would love to hike it.
Tomorrow is supposedly a hard day because of the ups and downs. I imagine the day after that will be the same. It’s time for me to realize that every day will undoubtedly go up and down, whether I memorize the book or not.