Yesterday while I was in town the sky was blue, the sun was shining, and I was feeling ready to get back on the trail. Today was overcast and I was less than enthusiastic to start hiking again. It is incredible how much weather affects mood. I wonder exactly what evolutionary mechanism makes us just want to sit around and mope when rain is imminent.
Got to Gentian Pond shelter around 3:30 and the rain started. Ankle was feeling pretty bad despite a relatively easy trail today. Well, easy compared to the last week. Decided to take a break and eat my food bag lighter, but an hour later the rain hadn’t stopped and the ankle wasn’t any better so I called it. 286.5 miles from Katahdin and a little less than 5 miles from the border. I was about to push over Mt Success and get to Maine despite the rain and the pain, but I’ve got nothing to prove anymore and this might solve my awkward clinger problem as well.
I’ve been thinking about Stoicism lately. It’s the philosophy of shut up and do what you gotta do. That’s a gross oversimplification but you get the gist. There’s part of it though that recommends taking time to live as basically and sparsely as possible, almost like a tour of poverty, the idea being to face how bad things can get so you will no longer fear it. I’ve definitely got a taste of that on the trail, eating pop tarts and ramen, considering an extra change of clothes a luxury. Last night I got cold and went to reach for my comforter, only to realize in a half-sleeping sort of wonder that I wasn’t in a bed. I live outside now. My life is still luxurious compared to many, and my situation is voluntary. I am lucky that at any given moment I could pull the ripcord and in a matter of days or hours I could be in a house, on a couch, watching Netflix. That’s actually kind of a double edged sword. Anyway, I think it’s powerful to reset your baseline so you can appreciate what you have, and it allows you the freedom from fearing the worst case scenario.
Station on the Appalachian Trail 