It is especially gratifying for me to be here because a while back I had thought that I could get here before the end of the month...and voila! But it wasn't easy and I have the sore feet and fatigue to prove it. For starters, I left Belden yesterday at about 6:30 pm and hiked until midnight (12 miles). Then this morning I was up at 6 and hiking by 6:45. I knew I wouldn't be able to waste time if I wanted to get to Soldier Creek (the halfway mark) by the end of the day. So aside from just a couple of snack breaks, I didn't really take any time off. When I got to the creek, I had logged another 30-mile day. Now that I'm halfway, I think I'm going to need to cut down the big mile days a bit. What I'm doing now is just unsustainable for me. In fact, the bottoms of my feet are so sore that I'll likely just hike the remaining 3.7 miles tomorrow to Highway 36 and hitchhike 8 miles into Chester to resupply and take the rest of the day off.
My sore feet issue is getting increasingly frustrating for me. I don't think I should still be battling blisters at this point. And I'm hoping that perhaps it is nothing more than too many miles. Only way to find out though! The blisters on the sides of my heels flared up again and that caused me to avoid putting as much weight on the backs of my feet, which then overburdens the balls of my feet, which is how they get sore. They didn't get bad until the second half of today and I probably should have stopped earlier, but like I said, I wanted to get here in July. Mission accomplished!
So after making camp, I celebrated by drinking the can of Coca-Cola that I had packed all the way from Belden. I had let it cool in the cold creek and so it was perfect for the occasion!
On a side note, the trail went nearly to the top of Butt Mountain today. So I guess you could say that I kicked some Butt Mountain today...ha!
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