Aug 20th, Day Twenty

Miles put on his clean socks.  (pictured)

Breakfast in front of the waterfall.

This morning early we ate breakfast in front of a very beautiful waterfall.  Once again our food is running low so we are trying to eat as little as possible.  Miles thought he was going to get some more supplies today around noon when we walked by a concession stand for a local swimming pool.  He looked inside the windows and saw a bunch of snack food for sale, but it was closed, and we waited a bit but no one showed up to open it. 

The Gilboa Fossils.

After we left there the trail was uneventful for most the day.  Some sections were the worst we had encountered so far; it was more like bush whacking than hiking but we made it to the lean-to we were trying for.  It was one of the nicest lean-to’s we had seen on the trail, even nicer than the ones on the Appalachian Trail.  For dinner miles treated himself and made a Raman dish and a pasta side’s dish.  This left us with a meager amount of food to hike the fourteen miles to town the next day, but it would have to work. 

Some squirrel has been living off this tree for a while. 

Since today was a little boring we wanted to take this opportunity to discuss Miles thought process while hiking.  We had been told by other hikers before we started that, since you had so much free time you always were mentally going through your pack and figuring out what you didn’t need so you could get rid of it and make your load lighter.  Well Miles is from the Miller family so for him it was a bit different.  Miles would start by mentally evaluating all of the food that was in the backpack.  Next he would figure out how long it would last him, and when he could eat each thing.  He would figure out how much he could eat each time, and still be able to reach the next resupply without starving the last day.  After that he would figure out what he wanted to get when he resupplied.  Then he would start thinking about what he wanted to eat when he was in the next town.  That would evolve into what he just wanted to eat in general.  He would often think of things he had never actually had before and would be like, “Oh yea, I’d love to have one of those right now.”  And from there he would go to wanting two of everything.  “Man I’d love to have two large pizzas right now.” 

My shelter for the evening.

That is a brief look into the mental process which would occupy hours of our hiking time, and would often repeat several times a day. 

Traveled 19.00 miles of trail.  

-SM-

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