Tuesday, April 02, 2013 – 9.7 km

My body wasn’t happy with me today. One of my knees was hurting and questioning why we had to keep climbing up and down rather than walking through flattish cow pastures, and I replied that cow pastures are the worst. And it said, well you evil witch…

To start from the start, I was determined to pack up and leave before any day hikers passed by in the morning. That didn’t happen. Around 6:45 AM, a man showed up while I was packing up the last of my gear. One of his dogs looked suspiciously familiar and I think that he may have been an associate of the first woman who passed me yesterday. She had looked disapproving (can’t blame her) but he was friendly and interested in the AZT and we had a brief conversation before he continued on his way.

Today’s hiking was scenic, but there were loads of people. By loads, I don’t mean Lake Agnes teahouse-loads, I mean I’ve-virtually-become-a-hermit-on-this-trail-loads. I’ve gotten used to randomly undressing on the trail to remove thermals in the mornings or have an easier time applying sunscreen, but today I had to wait until there were no children present until randomly undressing. It was injustice! (Got to wonder how I’ll handle civilization once I’m thrust back in… and haven’t I only been hiking for two weeks?)

A swimming hole called Hutch’s Pool is located along this segment of the trail, but as someone without a swimsuit, I feel that it discriminates. I was determined to have a swim though and waited until the trail quietened later in the afternoon. I was really determined! I ended up camping nearby for the night since the location is so pretty. In a recent poll of me, 100% of respondents agreed that today was productive!