BMT/AT Figure 8 Day 44: Breaking my Stealth Site Commitment
Day 44, Thursday, October 15, 2020
Stealth Site (Mile 2120.8) to Tray Mountain Shelter (Mile 2134.7)
Mile 480.8
Miles Hiked: 13.9
I decided to break my Stealth Site streak because I heard about a tent site perched on the edge of a rocky outcrop at the Tray Mountain Shelter. I love a rocky outcrop where I can sit and enjoy a view along with a cup of anti-inflammatory Turmeric Tea before dinner.
My favorite is the one with ginger and meadowsweet by Traditional Medicinals with this Honey-To-Go, which tastes exactly like something my grandmother would have given me when I was five to ease a sore throat. Medicinal in the best tasting way. On the days like today when I arrive in camp early, I brew a cup and feel the inflammation from a day of hard ups-and-downs dissolve out of my body.
I’m always amazed at how all the little aches and pains that accumulate during a long day of hiking disappear overnight. Every morning I wake up rejuvenated, ready to go, as if I hadn’t hiked 13 miles the day before. Or 480 miles over the last several weeks.
I credit the tea. And a good night’s sleep. And living outside. And, of course, the body’s willingness to forgive and adapt and especially thrive doing exactly what it was designed to do—move. Every day. A lot.
SHELTER SURPRISE
Amazingly, by the end of the day, there are only two other people at the shelter.
But that doesn’t mean I’m turning into a shelter person. I’ll go right back to stealth camping. Tray Mountain Shelter may be mostly empty. But there was still a parade of people marching up and down the trail today. Mostly NOBO.
