Hello lovelies,
I’m doing well out here on the trail, and hear that Mr. Cat Stevens is still doing well back in Sacramento.
General updates
The trail culture is weird this year. There seems to be a lot of trump-types out and about. Then there’s also a lot of folks “not feeling it” a few days in because it’s not a very social kind of trail this year.
I’m 120 miles in (~25% done)
I’m taking a zero at a campground with Noble and Liz
Longer updates
Turns out that spending 5 months doing not too much of anything has some how not completely destroyed my ability to hike. I’ve been able to do 20 mile days, which has felt pretty good, and so I gained a day over my expected schedule to arrive at copper mountain.
Although, I must confess that I feel my feet muscles trying to be rebuilt as quickly as possible (just like when Harry Potter regrows some bones in chamber of secrets). Also, in true trail fashion, I’m using shoes I really should not be.
During the past several months I’ve been running in a pair of Lems shoes — a small company out of Boulder. My feet have been conditioned to like the Lems feel, and when I switched to my preferred thru-hiking shoes (a pair of hokas) my feet were unhappy after a 3 mile run. As such, I decided to just use my Lems for this trail. They don’t have the kind of cushion I’d prefer, but seem to be working okay. They will be completely shot to hell in a few hundred miles. Oh well.
I’ve been using my solar panel to charge up my phone. It seems to be working well thus far. In a fun-filled microcosm of the world, now that I have more energy available for electronics, it’s unlocking new and exciting things — like recording video, yoga videos, and listening to Harry Potter audiobooks. I tend to keep my phone around 80% charge, and fill up a small power bank every day with some sweet solar light.
Anyway, I’ll be back on the trail tomorrow, refueled with a bag of Doritos and other random trail garbage.
With love and miles,
Jeff