There's No Shame In Tapping Out

Day 132

Wednesday August 2, 2017

Miles: 1429.0 - 1438.0    Completed: 9.0

Weather: Hot and Humid

Tenting at Morgan Stewart Shelter

Another hot and miserably humid day. Yesterday we rocked out just under 19 miles and today we suffered through 9. We quit early and decided there is no shame in tapping out.

Our bodies speak loud and clear to us and when we don't listen they don't perform. We pushed hard yesterday then didn't sleep well so today we needed to know when enough was enough. Despite the low mileage we still made our scheduled goal for the day since we did more yesterday. Nothing lost.

A few days back I bought $7.00 worth of water because NY's sources have not been agreeing with me. I just couldn't take any more aweful water that day. This was today's sample from a hand pump. 

Water from pump into collection bag. It didn't look too bad once it was filtered. 

But looks can be deceiving. It still tasted horrible and upset my stomach no matter how I tried to mask the metal taste with my flavor packets. Gross is Gross and by any other name is still gross. 

Tapping out worked in our favor today. As we were setting up camp the distant roll of thunder could be heard. It wasn't forecasted to arrive until after 6pm. We had time to get our gear situated and seek cover in the shelter with a few other hikers. That was two hours ago. The storm has been tip-toe dancing around without much of a real threat until now. If we would not have stopped we would have been caught in the middle of it somewhere on the ridge ahead. We love it when things work out in our favor. Hikers 1, Weather 0 today. 

Now time to take a baby wipe bath and get the much needed rest. 16.6 miles planned for tomorrow. 

Happy Hiking