Trail Life 7/29/22
Time
Ever feel like there just isn’t enough time in the day to finish everything you want to do? That’s how it feels on trail too. You wouldn’t think so. After all, what is there to do except hike most of the day, then settle in at camp? You have the whole evening free, and the morning too. Or so you might think. This is a topic that Rasputin and Coldilocks brought up yesterday inside their RV. They brought all kinds of books they thought they’d read. Never got around to any of them.
The truth is, in order to hike the miles we need to hike, we wake early. Usually 5 AM. It takes every bit of available time to pack up our things, make breakfast, go to the privey, filter water. Then we’re off hiking. No extra time in the morning. We hike all day, except for, possibly, a brief lunch break. Along the way we plan where to find water. It takes most of the day to hike 15+ miles. When we arrive at the shelter, there’s lots to do. Set up the tent and everything inside. Make dinner, while we converse with other thru Hikers. Plan the next day, or section. Journal. And more.
There is so much more I’d like to do. Like write. I just don’t have the time. There are postcards I’d love to write. There are phone calls I’d like to make. There are emails I’d like to respond to. I’d like to Google things that I experience or see on trail and learn more. I’d like to plan resupplies and mail drops much further ahead. There is more I’d like to say, and refine, in my trail life entries and morning Musings.
And more. So much more. I Just don’t have time.
I’m tempted to become frustrated with all I can’t do. But then I’m reminded of the most important thing I am here to do. The one thing I must do. Walk. Unless I walk, I’ll never complete this thru-hike. Everything else revolves around that.
Of course walking isn’t the only important thing I do. (See “finding our why“.) Capturing the day’s events and reflections are crucially important to me. I do so most often in real time, as they occur during my walk. (At breaks or day’s end, I’ll have forgotten too much and am usually too weary to think well.) Unfortunately, the ups, Downs, and obstacles of the trail prevent me from dictating into my phone while I walk. So occasionally I pause to capture things I think are important and don’t want to forget. But each pause reduces today’s miles and lengthens the time it takes to walk home. So, I’m only able to record a tiny percentage of my experience. Frustrating. But then I return to what has to be the main thing.