Day 47: Disappointment

Summary
June 11th

Silver Hill Campsite to West Cornwall Road

NOBO mile# 1483.2

Tolmann’s daily mileage 5.7

Tolmann’s total mileage 459.5

Hard night last night; it was warmer than I’m used to, I was thinking about it being my last night in the hammock, and the boys in the other camp were up talking and giggling until 11 or later. I let myself get upset about it, but of course did not ask them to tone it down. Since it was the first time it’s really been warm, I haven’t worked out a strategy, and found myself tangled up in my top quilt, and felt a tad claustrophobic. Eventually, all that frenetic energy calmed, and I slept ok the rest of the night. 

I woke up a little groggy, and slowly did my morning ritual. I ran out of granola yesterday, so settled for a protein bar and trail mix for breakfast. 

Then it was up and out of camp. 

I had no internet connection in camp, so was unable to check in with Debbie this morning; as I hiked I checked now and again to see if I had service. 

It was an immediate uphill grind to finish the climb up Silver Hill, then the morning consisted of a smorgasbord of terrain. There were enough uphill slogs to be very tiring, and the temperature was heading quickly into 90° territory. 

Around 3 miles in (10:00-ish), I stopped at the Caesar Brook Campsite to rest for a few minutes; there I saw I had internet access, and there was an email (sent earlier today) from Debbie saying she was not feeling well (ear infection), and would not be meeting me. 

Well, that was a monkey wrench of immense size. It actually took me about ten minutes to process the news, and begin to understand the implications:

• First and foremost, I wouldn’t be seeing Debbie. Ouch. My heart hurt. It’s difficult to be reconciled with being satisfied with having our visit be something to continue to look forward to. But it sounds like she has the right medicine, and it’s most important that she feel better, and hopefully we are just postponing a couple of days…
• Second, I was counting on the opportunity to resupply and do laundry. Not an impossible situation to deal with…
• Thirdly, my gear swap-out will have to wait, as well. More nights in the hammock!! (Yay!) More days with the guitar!! (Yay again!) And more days of hauling stuff. <sigh>

After going back and forth on whether to shoot for the next shelter, or go into town anyway, I called the motel where we were planning on staying and asked them if they ran a shuttle from the trailhead. Turns out, yes, they do. So I arranged to call them when I reached West Cornwall Rd. 

Then it was back to the current reality of ups, downs, rocks, roots, and stream crossings for the next 2.5 miles. And the heat. And the flies and mosquitos. 

Depending on terrain, I can maintain a pace of about 2 miles an hour. That’s what I use to gauge how long it will take to cover certain distances: a half hour to cover a mile. The risk with that approach is that terrain is notoriously difficult to predict, given the rough elevation profiles the guides provide. When ascents become too steep, I drop to less than 1 mile an hour, throwing off my ETA. That’s part of the reason I am trying to reduce my pack weight. When I slack-packed, I found I could maintain my pace over steeper terrain. Today, with the heat and repeated steepish climbs, I didn’t get to the road until after noon. CT kicks butt along with the best of them. 

The owner of the Hitching Post Motel is very friendly and generous. As we drive to the motel, he asked if I was going to want to shop, and when I said “yes”, he stopped at the Market down the street from his establishment, so I wouldn’t have to walk later. 

So I’ve shopped, I had a delicious Reuben sandwich, there’s a roast beef sandwich for supper in the fridge, my laundry is done, and I’ve posted my backlog of blog updates. I’ve also taken a closer look at the state of my toes and, gross as it is to consider, I’ve been able to clean off the dead skin and one of the two loose toenails. 

(Apologies in advance to the squeamish)

I’m very impressed with the body’s ability to repair itself. And, given the amount of pain these two toes have been putting me through (or more appropriately, that I have been putting THEM through), my hope is that by cleaning them up like this should reduce the pain and aid in their complete healing. 

And now it’s time to refigure my itinerary for the next few days. It’s just a few days until Massachusetts. And if Debbie can get out to meet me, I can still drop more weight from my pack as the mountains get bigger. 

And my son Jeff is planning on meeting me this weekend, so if Debbie can’t get out, maybe he can help with the gear swap.