He never moved.
Day 12, Sunday, Aug 2, 2020
Sandy Gap to Stealth Site on Brookshire Creek
Mile 148.3
Day of:
Thrashing through endless thickets of brambles leaving my bare legs bleeding and inflamed.
Snakes. Lots. Mostly garter snakes. But one strange copperhead who had his head stuck up in the air and never moved as I sidled by on the other side of the trail.
My water bag is about to split…will it make it through tomorrow?
Passing the halfway mark.
Going on 48 hours without seeing another human being.
I’ve decided the Benton MacKaye Trail Association has a secret mission:
To keep the trail unapologetically, militantly uncomfortable. No shelters. No bridges. No weed whackers. Can you take it?
To delay fun and gratification as long as possible, preferably until the hiker is finished, home, showered, dry, and the bleeding has stopped.
To string hikers along with the smallest of pleasures, with no promise of anything epic except being able to say, in the end, “I didn’t quit.”