A Day in the Life of an Appalachian Trail Hiker (part 4 of Six)
Part Four
Lunch could also take place near a spring where you could reload the water bottles and drink to your capacity. After all, water in the tummy was not the same as water in the pack. Again, the trail guide was useful since it would alert the hiker of water sources on the trail.
A full-fledge lunch break would mean the pack was removed, propped up with the walking stick, the food bag and water bottle extricated and maybe even remove the boots and socks to air out your feet. I suffered a few blisters on my feet but for the most part, after the early week or two, my boots were broken into, and my feet were fine.
At lunch, it was at a point hopefully 50 percent done for the day or less. We would gauge the distance to our planned camp and for the most part we were successful. Other times, an unannounced RELO meant a change in plans shortening the hike and camping somewhere else. Despite checking the RELOs in the Appalachian Trailway News for the previous two May editions, we had a sense of most of the changes, but not all. Hints from south bounders would alert of us troubled spots and we would adjust out plans accordingly.
Descending would hurt. I mean, my knees would pound the dirt and stone on the way down. Many hikers can’t handle the descents. You had to be careful, and this is where the walking stick would change you from an insecure bi-ped to a secure tri-ped.
Think Colin Fletcher.
Walking poles were not a thing in those days except for cross country skiing and such. So, add those stabbing pokes and Vibram soles to the erosive quality of hiking and you begin to see how erosion starts. It might help the knees but impacts the soil environment tremendously.
But whatever the case, I would try to pause and enjoy what the earth presented. My knees hurt on descents, while the many climbs were just tiring. Ben Gay ointment helped a bit on the knees.
There are some classic landscapes that define the AT experience. Think, from south to north, Blood Mountain, Standing Indian and Albert Mountains, Roan Mountain before Virginia. Then we have McAffee Knob, along South Mountain in Maryland, Hawk Mountain, Bear Mountain in the middle states. Moving toward the northeast we have Mount Greylock, Baker Mountain, my all-time favorite Mount Moosilauke in the southern Whites and finally The Bigelow Mountain Range, White Cap Mountain and of course Katahdin.
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