Day 122: Salvation is free.

Life on the AT is a constant struggle between injury and convalescence, health and illness, and in that regards, it's no different than normal life. Only, the possibility for injury/illness is much higher and it leans towards that end of the spectrum more often than not. Also, not like real life is the fact that regardless of malady, we still have to get up and move forward, miles and miles forward, every day.

Today is one of those days for me. All of my clothes are wet, I feel fatigued and somewhat sick, but the need to move forward is a higher priority. If you sit around for too long and think about how much it's going to suck, you'll never get anywhere, so it's better to adopt the mantra "ain't nothin' to it but to do it".

So I'm doing it.

Along the way we run into a clearing filled with cairns of all shapes and sizes. I'm not sure what the reason is, but it seems like the tradition in this area is to build a cairn before moving onward. Well, all the rocks are used up so instead I just take some pictures.

The weather isn't bad, and I honestly don't feel horrible, so I'm moving along at a somewhat decent pace, even though Stevie is far ahead of me. I walk up on him eating at a shelter and decide to hike out before him, knowing that I plan on going slow. I pass up eating as well, since I'm certain that snacks will only make my problems worse.

I make it to the top of a climb before I realize that not eating was a horrible, terrible, absolutely awful idea. I bonk so hard that I honestly don't know if I can go any farther, my hands are shaking, and I don't know what's wrong with me. With a sense of urgency and worry, I down all my remaining snacks for the day, Stevie passing me up along the way. I eat two macro bars, some coconut oil, almond butter, and two chocolates in about a five minute period.

This turns out to be worse than bonking, and almost immediately I feel like complete shit.

A few hours later it's getting dark, thunder is booming somewhere behind me, and I know that I'm not going to make it to the shelter. Sitting on the side of the trail, trying to gather energy and willpower enough to make it the final push in the dark, a local couple walks up on me.

We talk for a bit and they inform me that there's a "secret" shelter just off trail in a really short amount of time.

Secret shelter?! You mean I don't have to hike in the dark anymore and potentially get rained on and I can be alone and have intestinal problems alone and not be crazy uncomfortable around every other hiker on the trail?!

The shelter turns out to be weird. Real weird. First of all it's immediately off a logging road behind an abandoned tractor. Someone has obviously decorated the place, whether that be local kids or what, I have no idea. There's burned up candles everywhere, animal skulls, and random bits of what would otherwise be considered trash loosely strung up around the place. But it's a shelter. It has a roof, and I'm there, and I'm tired. And just I start to relax, it begins to rain.

But I made it. Sanctuary. I'm dry, I'm safe, and I might feel better tomorrow. So I drift off to sleep listening to the steady drum of rain on a tin roof.