Signal Mountain/Mudhole Gap

(From journal)

Sunday May 24, 2015

The discomforts of camping

When I woke up I was surprisingly not-as-sore as I expected after Buzzard Hill. I realized last night as we recovered in the comfort and warmth of a permanent structure that the CT is going to be a lot less glamorous than I originally thought. No warm shower, no hot food, no TV, no fluffy blanket, no comfy bed to greet you after a long day hiking. Actual sleeping is the uncomfortable part of backpacking (next to bugs, and lack of bathrooms)

The comforts of home

We went on the longest hike of my life today, literally 15 or 16 miles. As far as hikes go, it was pretty tame: 2000 feet of gentle elevation gain over the first 5 miles, then down and mostly flat for the next 9 with maybe a mile of uphill mixed in there somewhere. My feet really started hurting about half way through. The hike was kind of a combination or three or four different hikes which included Mud Hole Gap and Signal Mountain. The first five miles had pretty views while the rest was mostly just service roads and a tiny reservoire of water. We had many a good conversations and sweet moments. At one point we were talking about what we would do if we were super rich and David said, "If I had 100 million dollars, I wouldn't want to spend this day any differently than I am right now, here hiking with you." Earlier he stopped and hugged me and said, "thank you so much for doing this with me". I've been having a lot of fun, too. Its beautiful out there! I enjoy the workout and sense of accomplishment hiking offers. Beautiful views and good times with David. In a way, its kind of like (SCUBA) diving: we are both happy, a good team and are exploring/seeing nature. Now that I'm getting in to better shape, its not as stressful and challenging to keep up with David.