12/5/22
Day Seventy-Five 

Today went much differently than I originally planned. After waking up late, and feeling quite awful, I decided to do a series of shorter hikes rather than one long one. Winter feels weird. Rather than hiking back to back to back nonstop, I had 6 days off before today’s hike. Stepping out of the world that I’ve been in since June felt so much less stressful. I felt like I could breathe and be human for a bit. I read, watched TV, and did normal adult things, like wrapping presents and baking cookies. Even though I’m not doing a traditional thru-hike, there is no denying how much time I am spending in the woods and driving and planning the next hike has had a very similar effect on my life. Everything revolves around hiking. I plan my days off so that I’m set up for my next series of hikes. Packing food bags, grocery shopping, doing laundry, and writing posts. Plus working two days a week and driving thousands of miles…

I feel like it would be easier to do a thru-hike in many ways. To not feel the pressure to check and recheck routes, to not be working, and to not be driving hours a day on top of the hikes. But this is so incredibly hard and transformative and I wouldn’t trade it for the world. This is my gift to myself for going through cancer treatment. 

Daily Miles: 7.91

Daily Vert: 1875’

Overall Mileage: 830.45

Overall Vert: 246,189’

Trace: 36.5% -> 36.7%

Trails:

Gordon Pond Trail

Lower Falls

Kilburn Crags

Lone Oak

Around-The-Lake

Red Bench