Wednesday, June 23, 2010
It took me about 30 minutes to get to sleep last night, but once I cooled off and got settled, I slept very well. I really need to get an underquilt so I can hammock more often. There is no comparison in the quality of sleep I get when I take the Hennessey Hammock. No sore spots, the hips don't hurt, and I feel so much more rested in the morning. I woke up around 4:30 needing to go water the leaves. It was a beautiful night. The sky and stars were brilliant, and the temperatures had finally cooled off a bit. When I got back to the hammock my headlamp caught some movement on the hammock, so I shined it over there. There had to have been a thousand big black ants climbing all over my hammock. I mean they were everywhere, on the suspension, all over the bug net and they were climbing through my hiking clothes I had hung on the ridgeline to dry out. I must have made quite a sight up at 4:30 in the morning, in the middle of the woods, flailing at my hammock with my hiking shirt. I would knock a hundred off, and more would come down the tree. I realized that I was never going to get rid of them, so I was going to have to trust the design of the Hennessey would keep them off me. Well, it did. Not one single ant got into the hammock, thank goodness. I turned the sleep timer on my IPOD on again, and dozed off pretty quickly.
Around 7:00, I heard voices, so I knew the other dames were up. I climbed out of my hammock, and went over to see how they had fared throughout the night. Turns out Nanci and April barely slept. We had been tossing around some possibilities for the days hike before turning in last night, so we sat down to make a group decision on what to do.
The dames were quick to tell me that this was my hike, and they would do whatever I wanted, but that is not how I work. I wanted the group to decide what to do. Part of me wanted to continue, but part of me knew that the heat and humidity, and the uncertainty of water we were facing would perhaps put us in a precarious position if we hiked the planned 9 miles we were facing today. We decided just to admit that we were done and to turn around and hike 1.8 miles back to the last road crossing. From looking at the maps, we figured when we got there, we would be less than 2 miles from Sunny's car, so that was the plan. We ate a small breakfast, dumped some water since we only had a short walk, and headed out. Sunny left about 15 minutes before we did, so we wouldn't have to wait on the side of the road too long.
I started out feeling strong, but within minutes, the heat was rapidly becoming brutal. I was already soaked with sweat, so I knew that despite my competitive nature, ending the hike early was the smart move. We hiked about a mile to the intersection with a horse trail, which we took to put us out at the road earlier. Sunny texted us while we were still hiking, said she was at the road and would go get the car. We hiked on, and about 15 minutes later, we were at the road. Sandy and I waited for Nanci and April, then we walked about 100 feet down the road to a parking lot. It wasn't long before Sunny was pulling into the parking lot. We loaded the back up with our gear, then the rest of the car with our stinky selves. We drove down to the county store, put on our crocs, and decided to eat a hearty breakfast at the country store restaurant. The food was good...a little expensive...the service was sketchy at best, but we enjoyed being in an air-conditioned building, with unlimited water, plumbing, soap and good food.
After we took care of the bill, we headed out, said our goodbyes and headed home. I took Sandy to the other trailhead to pick up her truck, then headed home.
I think everyone enjoyed the hike. I know I did! I do want to take the 'dames on another trip down there, but will use my brain more and will schedule it either in the fall or spring. There just isn't enough elevation gain to cool off any, and the trees aren't at thick or tall as they are on the AT. Maybe next spring break?
You have to have confidence in your ability, and then be tough enough to follow through-
Rosalyn Carter.
No comments:
Post a Comment