The alarms were set for 5:30 and 5:45 and that was way too early. Especially when I didn't get any sleep last night, I was wide awake excited for today. Not to mention my tent slanted left slightly. I got my breakfast ready for later since it was too early for me to eat, and I carried it with me. The large climb up the Tinker Cliffs was hot even this early-that is scary. Luckily this would be the only big climb of the day, but still. There was a tricky rock section that had like 3 trees marked with blazes and this very cool, yet confusing AT sign (see below) I of course went the wrong way for a out 5 minutes. I noticed the lack of blazes and backtracked. I came to the same junction and Dexter was now there, he was going to go another way-luckily, I spotted the correct way first. We carried on up and around the boulders. Once we got to the top of Tinker, I sat to enjoy my breakfast. Couldn't ask for a better view to do so. Even the smallest uphills; I took slowly, the heat was draining. I felt like I was at the beach with how hot it was, and the pretty white sand on top of some of the mountains. I put my baseball cap on to keep the sun off of my head and face to minimize the heat exhaustion. Most of the trail was gaps of open sun which made things that much hotter. We took a couple breaks in the shade to cool down and relax, but the hard part is the longer you sit; the longer until you are in town. You need to break and sit so you can make it to town, but you don't want to take too long because you are excited to get there. Hiker problems. There were like 5 power line crossings before getting to Daleville, and power lines are like the desert. It was like a countdown to town; 4, 3, 2. Almost there! I got to the last one, and then the railroad crossing, and then the river-so close! I texted Nana to let her know I was close. I walked out to civilization to a motel, no PT in sight-where are you guys? I called Nana, they were down below where I was at so I saw them drive by and I walked down. My sweaty, stinky self was greeted with hugs and an ice cold blue Gatorade! We waited for Dexter and loaded everything into the little PT Cruiser. Our options for food: fast food, a rundown Mexican place with no cars that just opened, or Crackerbarrel. None were ideal, but Crackerbarrel was the best out of the worst! We headed there and I got two pieces of trout, rice, broccoli, and Hashbrown casserole-oh and two biscuits. After, we headed to the outfitter so I could pick up my re supply box from my mom and pick up some things from the outfitter. The guy handed me my 12 pound box of food and said good luck. I went over to look at the water filters; here is my dilemma do I want to go with the Sawyer squeeze, or do I want to try the Katydin Hiker Pro? I've used both of these the last couple days on the trail thanks to some fellow thrus, but now I have to choose which I want for myself. A worker came over to ask if I needed any help, I explained my situation. He said he has the Hiker Pro and loves it, hasn't had a problem. A lot of hikers use the Sawyers since they are so light, but they don't filter out all of the bacteria. As soon as I heard that I decided on the Katadyn. That was originally why I got the mackdaddy MSR ceramic pump, I don't know what is wrong with it but when I get home I'll send it back to MSR and see if they can figure it out. My heels have also been bruised and bothering me so I wanted to check out the trail runners. As much as I am thankful for my mom sending me my awesome looking Merrells, I don't think they were really equip to do the job. They were more for running on trails than every day hiking 12-16 miles and climbing rocks but way better than my boots and those Reebok sneakers I had. I tried on two pairs of Salewas and two pairs of Solomons and settled on the Solomon. It is so nice to just open a bottle of water and drink from it, not worrying about little sips to conserve, not worrying about being empty, not worrying about filtering or finding a filter since yours isn't working; but to just drink and enjoy. Once we got to the motorhome I jumped in the pool to cool off, and relaxed in the lounge chairs. The exhaustion was really catching up to me from the lack of sleep the night before, getting up early, and then hiking in the heat. I started to not feel so great so I went in to shower and get clean. I must have been in the shower for a good half hour, it's amazing how great it is to finally shower. Once I was out we were talking about what to do for dinner and when nana mentioned having pizza delivered it was a done deal. I was too exhausted to go out. I sat on the patio and just thinking about moving made me tired. Once the pizza got there my appetite was non-existent, I just couldn't think of eating. I just sipped on Gatorade with probiotic and an echinacea tea bag. I sat on the patio and tried to blog a little but decided to go in and try to go to bed. I took an acid reducer and got in bed, a real bed-well kinda! (Pull out couch to queen size blowup mattress is way better than my Z Lite sleeping pad!)
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