Day 17
Location: Stewart River
Distance: 18 mi
Weather: hot and humid
Mood: it was a long day, but we made it!
We officially hit 200 trail miles today and it was as hard a day as any we've had so far! As we set off southbound and climbed up steep, rocky ridges and down into rooty, muddy valleys, the temperature quickly climbed past 70 and by mid morning it was past 80 too. The miles came slowly and it was hard to feel like we were making much progress as we took our first two breaks of the day. The goal was just over 18 miles today but we were moving slow, less than 2 miles per hour.
While there's really no shortage of water out here, we passed several barely moving, muddy creeks and were starting to get low as we drank more in the afternoon heat, we came to a sunny road walk connecting two segments of the trail. As cars whizzed by, we trudged in the full sun down the shoulder. A sign approached, announcing a creek which ran under the road through a culvert. We climbed down, splashed ourselves with water and filled our bottles, refreshed and seemingly in a completely different world than the AC cooled travelers thundering past us on the highway above.
When our final snack break arrived, with the campsite and dinner still seemingly far out of reach, we sat in a shady spot under a few trees in full fall color. I stretched out on my sleeping mat on the ground and watched as the wind rustled the leaves of the birch tree across the road and sent bright orange maple leaves twirling down toward the ground. A bald eagle flew in careful spirals far above and a butterfly went about it's business a few feet below. Trying to contextualize our morning, I said to Dad, "you know, backpacking isn't only about being in nature, it's also about suffering." He laughed and asked if I was making that up. Well, yes. Maybe that's put too glibly but I think there's some essential truth to it. Why walk 200 miles in the woods? Yes, there are fall colors and eagles and butterflies, but there are also heat waves in September and sore feet and endless miles of mud and roots and rocks. We're walking to experience it all, and we're getting what we signed up for!
Well those are some 200 mile thoughts! In under 100 more we'll have completed the SHT and be on our way into Wisconsin on the NCT.
