Woke up to a (seemingly) solid layer of bloodsuckers waiting patiently between the tent's screen & rain fly. Our hopes of waking early to beat the bugs having been dashed, we sit in the tent and make a make a plan to pack up efficiently & make our escape. Lyss is in tears at the misery of discomfort, but I wait it out & try my best to form something resembling a pep talk despite the fact that I'm just as intimidated by the number of mosquitoes waiting outside that thin screen. What is it about this stupid campsite‽ How much of the hundred miles will be like this?
Soon we're packed & on our way, with no breakfast in our bellies. A few miles later we bump into some more encouraging hikers who tell us 'getting our legs' will only take a few weeks! This news picks us up, and our spirits are bolstered even more when we stop for lunch on the gorgeous Rainbow Lake where we take an extended break and soak our throbbing feet.
By 3:00pm we're exhausted again and pushing to get to a camping site by a spring. It's no surprise that Rainbow Spring Campsite puts us very close to the shore of the same giant lake where we ate lunch. As I'm resting by the spring legs propped up above me to help my body deal with lactic acid buildup and reduce soreness (thanks for the tip, Sam!) I see a tiny frog creep up onto the pebbles. It's still got it's tadpole-tail, and briefly I feel like I could be anywhere, anywhen, witnessing the everyday miracle that is LIFE PUSHING ON... then a mosquito lands on my arm and my revery dies when I squish it flat.
Soon, a bunch of boy scouts show up & invade my once-tranquil space: troop 1776 out of Jersey. I sit there for a few more minutes, enjoying their speculation on the connection between Dan Marino and Merino wool, before getting back up to camp to make dinner: more lentils and rice. Already Lyss is sick of it, but I could live on the stuff. As we're eating, another southbounder shows up. Jon again, but a different one. This Jon is hiking with a beagle named Bella, and carries her dehydrated dog food in addition to his own food. Jon's smiles come easy, and he's likeable, but I'm confused when he tells us how grateful he was to find people to camp with tonight b/c he didn't want to sleep in the woods alone.... I don't ask him about it, because I don't want to make him self conscious, I mean the guy's gotta be in his mid twenties, and he's hiking the appalachian trail... meh, I'm too tired to try to figure it out.
We're in bed by 7:30
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