Relaxation

  It was here I found a few days to really test my experience of being in the wilderness. I had already resigned myself to living without the hat and gloves. I was happy for the newly found coffee cup. I had a couple of days of hiking alone, though I did stay at a shelter.

  Melanie had sent plenty of candy, leftover from the baby shower as a trail magic gift for other hikers. I waited until I was going uphill and left some on side of the trail for others, with a quick note asking them to send a thank you to Mel’s email address. A bit of sugar will always help you get up the hill. Many hikers I know carry some hard candy for just that reason. If the hill is a steep climb they will get about half way up and then go for the sugar rush to help them the rest of the way.

  I came into the shelter area a little late that day, and there was a large group of college age people there. Overall they were a rude bunch of kids that seemed to have no respect for the other hikers around them. I offered them a bag of candy and the only comment they made was, “AOL really, that is old school “. They were talking about the email address I had left in the bag. One of them even said that I WAS BEING RUDE BY ASKING THAT THEY SEND A THANK YOU. I decided it was better to keep my mouth closed and go a bit away from the shelter to set up my tent.

  Down on the southern part of the trail there always seems to be plenty of camping spaces near the shelters. Places that are flat with little debris so you can set-up rather easily. This is not the case when you get up to the northern areas, so enjoy it while you can.

  I grabbed my cook pot and had a quick dinner, pulled out my journal and began to jot down a few notes of the day. I’m pretty sure this was the first entry I had managed to write. I just was not very good at the whole journal thing. It gave me time to reflect on my recent life and the things that I had misinterpreted. One guy came back from the shelter to let me know I should join them for a bit of social activity. I politely declined, but it was nice of him to make the effort. I would be seeing him again, and I’m pretty sure not many of that group ever made it passed the halfway point.

Psychological stress and cancer

Living for something more than the almighty dollar.