Tag: thruhiker

Day 19 – Ambition

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It takes forever to get to sleep between the wind and the cold, though I’m fine once I warm up. I’m up on and off again through the night, though, to drink an entire liter of water and adjust my body when certain parts get too warm or cold, too far away from the happy temperature in the center of the bag.

I wake at 5am to frost all over everything, and immediately go back to sleep.
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Day 18 – Leapfrogging

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I actually sleep okay on the tiny couch, having alternately put my legs up and stretch them out as necessary through the evening to keep comfortable. Still, I’m up early – normal hiker time, 5:30 – but not a creature is stirring in the house, so I doze for a little, then sit up and write. Might as well be productive. The brave souls who slept outside are hankering to get in, but respectful of everyone’s sleep.
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Day 12 – Idylling

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I wake several times during the night – a few times to the sounds of Saturday night revelry, another time to silence, during which I take out my earplugs. I regret this when, during the hour of 4am, the family in the site next to ours starts up the party again. Loudly. In Spanish, which, not understanding, my brain tries really, really hard to decipher, keeping me awake. I fumble for my earplugs, but once I get them in, it seems like my 5:30 alarm goes off pretty immediately. Continue reading →

Day 11 – Detour the First

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When 4am rolls around, a pickup truck rolls up to Paradise Valley Cafe, lights off – so I assume he knows there’s a smattering of hikers sleeping on the porch. But he and his buddy pop out of the truck and, I shit you not, one of them starts giving a tour to the other. And not like an inebriated tour, with slurring and overly annoying attempts to keep quiet, which would’ve almost been forgivable. Nono, these two sound stone cold sober. Apparently, I just need to get up, so I do so, refraining from throwing dirty looks in the direction of the tour, though only just.
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Day 10 – Paradise

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I enjoy cowboy camping, with the swirling stars and the traveling moon and the warmish evening. I’ve got my alarm set for 5, but someone walks past me at 4:30 and then again at 4:45, headlamps in my face1, so I just start getting up. It’s easier to pack when you’ve been cowboy camping, so I’m out basically by 5:30.
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Day 9 – Almost 20

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It’s less freaky than I expect it to be, sleeping in my shelter without the rain fly – even when a person walks by after an undisclosed amount of time, my anxiety about the whole thing just seems unfounded. This is the most normal thing, even when I wake in the middle of the night and see the stars instead of a roof. Continue reading →

Day 8 – Ripping off the Bandaid

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I wake at 8:30 – oh, the luxury! – to a bustling mass of tents under the cottonwood tree. The first thing I do is pack up, put my tent away so I’m not tempted to stay another evening. I am going to nero, though – head out around 4:30 to avoid the heat, go five or six miles – there’re a bunch of sites in that vicinity. And until then, it’ll be so, so nice to spend a day resting in the company of hikers!
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