Sunday, August 3, 2008

Escape Velocity

Escape velocity is the term I use to describe the relative willpower needed to get out of a trail town or rest area after stopping; how tired you are, how nice the town is, who you are with, etc., all affect this. Since arriving in NH, I've been fortunate enough to get two family visits and currently am in Gorham with my brother and his girlfriend for a day. The hiking in this state has been by far the hardest we've encountered, but also the most rewarding with spectacular views from mountains above treeline, awsome waterfalls, and the opportunity to stay in "huts", essentially mountain lodges staffed by a "croo" that have home cooked food and running water.
All this would be great, were it not for a stomach bug that I seemed to have picked up and the fact that we've been getting wailed on by rain at some point every day. Couple that with the tough climbs, mud, and rock walls one expects to find here and I've been hurting an inordinate amount. The fatigue and joint pain associated with ascending and descending so steeply is nothing I'm not prepared for, but the lack of appatite and subsequent lack of nutrition is somewhat disconcerting. Coming into a town and not being hungry is completely foreign to a hiker, and the fact that lately I've been hitting the bottom is even worse. For 1800 miles I've been able to dig and push up hills as long as I replace the energy; for a few days that seemed to not be the case. Luckily I'm sitting here typing this and my stomach is telling me its time for breakfast in a big way, so hopefully the worst is past. Giving the terrain I have hanging over my head for the next coupla days, I'm gonna need alot of power to get to escape velocity.

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