The key to thru-hiking is keeping everything balanced, both figuratively and literally. The heat and water issues keep knocking us off balance. Night-hiking is the only way to balance our hike, but I keep slipping back to day shift for a variety of reasons mostly beyond my control (e.g., bears, thunderstorms, dead batteries). I plan to continue taking advantage of overcast and rainy days to hike during the day, but I will also keep hiking at night until it becomes our natural rhythm. That struggle will continue until the first week of July when I plan to flip flop. My wife and Forest's trainer will pick us up and take us to the end of the trail in Maine at Mt. Katahdin. From there, we will hike southbound to where they picked us up.
In the short term, I do have some help coming this week—my parents will arrive tomorrow and pick us up from our campsite. They will stay in hotels for five days and support me along the way. This will allow me to slackpack, so that we can hike 15 to 20 miles with just a day pack with food and water. At the end of each day they will pick me up and take me to the hotel. This will be a huge help and keep us moving along. Thanks, Mom and Dad!!
I had promised to share a video of the two bears we saw previously during our night hike. Unfortunately, the video did not pick them up in the dark. The next night on the trail, two cubs about the size of piglets walked right under our tarp (which was in porch mode) to within just feet of our hammocks. When Forest growled a warning at them, they stood on their back legs and growled and shook their front paws at us. Mama bear showed up on the other side, but on the outside of the tarp. She brushed up against it while crashing through the rhododendron to collect her cubs. They left with her, but we could tell that the one cub was a little bummed that he didn't get to fight us and eat our food. He left, too, but he was not happy about it. Luckily, Forest stayed in his hammock as I told him to, or we might have had a much bigger problem with Mama bear.
While we've been zeroing here in the hammocks, I've had time to think about a couple of things that have been on my mind during the last weeks.
Mountain Valley Pipeline
First, the Mountain Valley Pipeline slated for construction this year, unless property owners and/or environmental groups can block it in court (to view the Appalachian Trail Conservancy's position, please visit this website: http://appalachiantrail.org/home/conservation/advocacy/mountain-valley-pipeline). We came across the pipeline location during the night that I slackpacked 20 miles back to Angel's Rest Hiker Hostel. I stopped short of it to wait on daylight because I had been hearing stories about law enforcement and company men confronting hikers. I don't know why—if video of the pipeline on the Native American Reservation and the result of some of our last few wars can't stop oil/gas money, then they should feel free to live-stream the oil dumping into our waterways. Reminds me a little of how Easter Island ended up with few trees.
I did not take a picture of the police car protecting the pipeline company activities, but here are the other three pictures in the order that I took them.
I guess I think as a society we treat being happy like being high. We always want more, and no matter how happy we are, we will always be hungry for it. I think it is good to take a tolerance break from all the "unhappy happiness" to reset your happy scale. If you are unhappy, go on a long, long hike. It may not make you happy, but it will teach you that you were happy before. I know that we all have legitimate things to be angry or unhappy about. No doubt about it. Go on a long hike, though. You will see how good you have it. You will see something as simple as a gas station or a pizza and be beside yourself with excitement.
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