Day 304

Day 304 (AZT 9): 41 miles

I started the day off by fully convincing myself that I had a stress fracture. My foot was feeling weird and hurting. My first metatarsal felt like it needed to relieve some pressure or something. I’ve had a lot of foot problems in the past so stress fractures are something I’ve had in the back of my mind all year. This wasn’t the first time I was scared I had one. After the 5 minutes of dealing with it where I was already planning how the pain was only gonna get worse and how this hike was over and how I was gonna get home, it went away.

Late in the morning I was feeling a little rough so I broke into the PED’s-circus animal cookies. Before this trip I don’t think I’d had them since I was like 10. They arrant available at most places but when they’re there it’s like a holiday.

I was passing a bunch of disgusting cow ponds this morning. I didn’t want to get water at any of them so pushed to get it at a water spigot at a ranger station. Naturally, when I was .25 miles from the station on a dirt road a guy drove by and asked if I needed water. I wish I woulda seen him earlier.

There were a couple 400 foot climbs today and I thought “wow this is really something.” I’ve been so spoiled with flat terrain it’s gonna be a wake up call here soon when it gets a little more volatile.

I came across my first other thru hiker today. He was at camp around sunset but we chatted for a bit. Then I saw a couple more tents after dark so maybe I’ll start to see some more people now. It only took me 300 miles in to see my first thru hiker.

Song of the day: praise God-Kanye west