Day 62

Day 62: 28 miles

Thru hiking szn is beginning to pick up with more people starting everyday. I wanna wish good luck to all those that already started and those that are yet to begin! I tell myself that if I was only doing a single thru hike I would wait as long as possible in the season to start so it was warmer but I’m sure I would be so antsy to get going I would start early anyways.

pretty uneventful day and I’ve been wanting to go over my sock routine since it’s a little crazy so here goes

So everyday my feet get at least a little wet. If it’s raining, obvious. But even if it’s not, I’m likely walking in snow all, or at least most of the day. So my shoes and socks get wet pretty much everyday. And nearly every night it is below freezing, usually a good amount colder. This leads to my shoes and socks being frozen overnight.

I lay my socks out because they are wet and gross and if I put them in my sleeping bag immediately it would become wet. They freeze rock hard overnight. In the case of an animal encounter, I could use them as clubs. The next day I will put them on the outside of my pack to air out and thaw. Sometimes I also put them inside my jacket if they are still fairly wet and need heat. Even after being exposed to air all day, they are usually still wet and a little bit stiff/frozen. The next day I will do the same thing and ideally they will be a little better. Then the 2nd night, I will sleep with them inside my jacket so my body heat will completely unthaw them and ideally dry them out a little bit. I have 3 pairs of socks so I do this rotation with each and wear the same pair every 3rd day. Regardless of this effort, a lot of times I still put on damp socks in the morning. If it rains or snows, it completely throws the drying routine out, and they usually get more wet because I’ll forget I have them exposed in my pack or pocket. And if it’s bad weather like it usually is, it’s not really conducive to drying things out.

Song of the day: accidentally in love- counting crows
If you thought Spotify was perfect, you’ll be disappointed to hear they don’t have the whole shrek 2 soundtrack