Day 129 (Mile 1765.4 – 1781.9):

I am having a little bit of a hard time remembering exactly where I stopped to camp this day. I remember some events, but not all. I have a couple photos, but not enough to suggest a if I stayed at a campsite or stealthed. I took a morning photo (above) of where I camped at 9:02am so I am going to take a guess and say I stealthed. Also that may have rained that night based on the surrounding area. Normally, I would take a screen shot of my location on the map if I had stealthed, but with how burnt out I was with the blog, it is possible I missed a couple of days here and there. Based on the next photo I took that day by a road, I am going to think I was most likely no more than 2 miles before that road, only that I do not remember which road out of the three I am looking at on Guthook. Based on the comments in Guthook, the road I am looking for must be Cape Moonshine Road. I am thinking my original destination was Ore Hill Campsite for the day. I am glad I didn’t make it. I would have missed some of the best trail magic I came across on the trail the next day! As I got closer and closer to the possible place I set up my tent, I noticed something interesting in the comment section on a dirt road way-point location in Guthook, my own comment I made on August 22, 2017 reading: “Less than 0.1 North of this dirt road to the left in between the trail and some ruins are room for two tents.” LOL =D I comment rarely on Guthook. I may have made 3-5 comments on the entirety of the trail.

What I remember:
– Not having any service except for on the tower of Smarts Mountain.
– Taking a rest along with Young Gandalf at the top of Smarts Mountain
– Apologizing and reconnecting with Apache for something I would like to not disclose on this blog. Nothing bad, just getting involved with something that was none of my business.
– Semi remember over hearing Young Gandalf listening to Harry Potter series audio books out loud in the Smarts Mountain shelter.

A note I left on my phone from this date:

I realize I will be entering the Whites tomorrow, but even with the change of pace around the corner, I am tired of the same routine. Even with the change of pace, It will still be the same old same old no matter how beautiful. Maybe I’ll take my words back later. Simply, I hike to finish. People are great still but having the same conversation with a whole bunch of different people has been starting to annoy me. I can tell I am less eager to start up conversations with my fellow hiker. One south-bounder I had run into today said, not one north-bounder had a smile on their face passing them in Maine when they had started after I had mentioned how it was to me to hike after hiking for four months now. I am beginning to understand why. If I didn’t have audio books, I don’t know how I’d survive mentally. My thoughts are about executing what I plan to do when I get back. I have ideas but without the tools to execute those ideas, life is pretty stagnant. I can only continue to learn and take in. Something as simple as a pen and paper would excite me, but not even for my sanity would I be willing to carry the extra weight.

Look at this tree just hanging there!