sucker brook shelter to the end?

miles: 5.4

dis-ass-ter!

i’m off trail and at home, and less than 24 hours after setting my resolution to finish. the following post is gross. if you can’t deal, stop here.

at 02:00hr i roll over in my tent. squish. squish? i’m awake, confused as to why i am wet. it’s not raining, and i know i picked a good tent site - one that wouldn’t collect water.

i open my sleeping bag, and the smell hits me. shit. literally. what? so yeah. that happened. while i was sleeping. first time in my adult life. great timing.

i get up, put my shoes on, and then have to essentially run down the hill to get away from camp because there is more.

that taken care of, i returned to my disgusting tent. it’s all over my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, the floor of the tent, and on the strap of my fanny pack, which i apparently sat on while putting on my shoes.

now i’m just angry. what the actual fuck? is this really happening?

i cleaned up as best i could. the water source for this shelter was literally a trickle of water. at one point i’m standing over the trickle wearing nothing from the waist down with a headlamp trying not to alert my shelter mates, who thankfully are tenting on the opposite side of the structure from me.

i finally get everything at least wiped down, and i crawl back in bed. i’m freezing as all my sleeping heat has been lost. it takes me a very long time to stop shivering.

i have a lot of time to think, and the idea of continuing in a disgusting sleeping situation does not appeal to me. could i? yes. will i? no.

i think it must have been either the cucumber or perhaps some apples i got from another hiker that was finishing up at middlebury gap.

the next morning i wake up a little late, pack the worst into my spare gallon ziplock that is reserved for my camera and phone during storms, eat breakfast and head out.

at the top of the blue blazed trail i regain cell service and call magz for a bail out. it sucks. i then hike 5.4 of the hardest miles i’ve done to brandon gap. they were hard emotionally, but physically as well. my exhaustion from yesterday continued. at some point along the way i have to emergency poop, making it less than 30’ off the trail at a full run before i’m throwing my bag to the ground and frantically pawing at the button on my shorts.

i finally make it to brandon gap and stand with my umbrella in the rain and wait for magz and the dogs to arrive.

the drive home is difficult. my knees and ankles hurt and for some reason i can’t get warm. i feel fine, but exhausted. it’s a very different finish to any of the other trips like this. invariably i’m running hot because my metabolism is cranking and i can’t cool down.

so that’s it for now, though i’ve already started talking to magz about doing a joint trip 10 days or so from brandon gap to mass.

she says she’s in, so stay tuned.