1/27/23
Day 96

I went into the day doing what most people do, just hike the trail as its own entity, not as a string of hundreds of hikes to be completed as part of a major goal. It was beyond liberating. To hike as a way to seek joy and solitude instead of as a job. Because right now, this is my job. So many people want to hike for a living, to do the thing they love over and over again every day instead of having to work somewhere they don’t necessarily like in order to earn a living. I wanted for so long to be that person who could hike for a living and now, although no I am absolutely not making a living doing this, it is my job. What I envy in those who don’t do this for a living is the ability to rest. To be able to go to work and sit and not ask their body to perform at the level I have to ask of mine day in and day out. To be able to go to work and not have to psych themselves up in order to complete another full day performing a task that absolutely doesn’t come easy to them. And I envy the comradery, the community, because there are many times when even I, a very independent person, wishes that she had at least one other person doing the same thing she was, who got it. 

Daily Miles: 6.85

Daily Vert: 1716’

Overall Miles: 1015.54

Overall Vert: 293,097’

Trace: 44% -> 44.3%

Trails:

Coppermine Trail

Loop Trail

Bald Mtn. Spur

Bald Mtn/Artist Bluff Path