Friday, September 20, 2013

Day 21: Bohn Lake, Greenwood, Mecan River, Wedde Creek, Chaffee Creek,Connecting Route



Doug rejoined me as crew member today, and we had a wonderful day. Bohn Lake, Greenwood and Mecan River in particular were great trails: beautiful and highly runnable. There was one stretch in Mecan River, I believe, where the trail pops you out onto a gorgeous meadow. There were rolled hay bales dotting the field and the path for hikers was lined with waving grasses. Very cool. 

Chaffee Creek was interesting, because it takes you under I-39 twice. At one point you walk through an enormous metal culvert with the creek rushing through; there’s a handy concrete sidewalk on one side. The day ended with the start of another long connecting route. Doug handed off to Ed, who will be with me for much of the weekend.

Last night I stayed at the Mecan River House B&B. An IAT connecting route passes right in front of the inn! Handy. Innkeeper Agnes is very sweet. She let me do my laundry and made sure I had just what I wanted to eat and drink in the morning. Another great selection for a place to stay when you’re hiking. (Oh, and the river runs right behind her inn – it’s beautiful.)

500 miles away from home
People keep asking me how many miles I’ve walked. Truth is, I don’t know. That’s surprising for me, because I’m normally the kind of person who tracks everything. You’d expect me to be tallying my daily mileage down to the tenth of a mile, and know exactly how far I’ve walked and how far I have yet to go. But I haven’t done anything of the sort.

I think I got thrown off in the beginning by my knee tweak and blister infection, plus the rough paths. I didn’t want to think about having 900 or 1,000 miles to go, even if it sounded impressive to think I’d already covered 100 or 200 or 300. It was simply too daunting. I preferred to take things one day at a time, one hour at a time, one step at a time. Still do.

That being said, I’m pretty sure that today I’m roughly halfway through my epic adventure.  And that’s pretty darn exciting.

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