Day 2

Day 2 (BMT): 17 miles

The nice part of being on a less stringent schedule this year and allowing myself to warm up slowly is being more lax with my time. I didn’t leave camp today until 10 because it was raining and I only had to do 17 miles so there was no rush. The rain finally let up a little around 10 so I left.

It was nice for a bit but then picked back up and rained for a while. I hit a rather low point when I was standing in a downpour at a creek (first video) and was trying to decide whether I could barefoot ford it or had to keep my shoes on (which I don’t like). Since I was already wet, I charged through the stream with my shoes on to be safe. It was a fast flowing creek and went up to my knees which I usually don’t have to deal with.

Speaking of knees, I was slipping and sliding all day in the mud pit that was the trail. I fell and banged my knee pretty hard on a rock. I hope it doesn’t swell too much. Yesterday I was just thinking how awesome it is that I never have knee pain while hiking like a lot of people.

Thankfully the rain stopped by the time I got to camp around 5. It felt weird ending the day so early, but I’m starting slow, and this first part in the smokies has permits for campsites so it’s preset. My mindset is basically to enjoy these first 2 small trails while getting my trail legs before I go west and things are a little harder.

I did something I hardly ever do at camp. I cooked. Last year I never wanted to stop and take the time, but I’ll do it this year, at least for the first month or so. The food is definitely better warm, but when I’m cooking and cleaning up I just think about the time I could instead be walking. I bought my first ever fancy backpacking meal. $12 for 580 calories is ridiculous, but I really just wanted the bag to reuse and cook in since it can withstand boiling water. This makes cleanup much easier. From now on, I’ll just throw my ramen noodles or rice in their to cook and bam, no stove cleanup.

I also soaked and cleaned me feet in the river by camp. I need to pick up some wet wipes to clean off my feet nightly. That helped a lot last year and is extremely satisfying.