Hiking on the Appalachian Trail to Charlie’s Bunion from the Newfound Gap was perhaps the hardest hike I have done in my life. The hike was only eight miles but took me six and 1/2 hours to finish. I don’t think I will be hiking the remaining 2152 miles of the Appalachian Trail. Not wearing my hiking boots for ten years certainly did not help. Either the boots got smaller, or my feet got bigger, because these boots worked great before. Without the Leki hiking poles I never would have been able to do the hike. The poles kept me from falling and provided support for my knees and legs.
The problem I had was all the rocks and boulders on the trail. The trail was either going up or down, with 1640 feet of elevation gain reaching 6122 feet above sea level. Huge rocks and boulders on the trail presented a challenging obstruction. I had to step up and climb over the rocks or step down and climb down over the rocks. Almost the entire trail was covered with these rocks. Hiking over, down, and around these rocks is where the hiking poles saved me. I used the poles to stabilize myself while scrambling over the thousands of rocks. I never remember a hiking trail with so many rocks obstructing the path.
The photos are from the halfway point of the hike. The trail was an out and back. I was in good spirits at the halfway point. Most of the elevation gain was on the first half of the hike. I thought the hike back would not be difficult. The four mile hike back seemed as if the trail would never end, and turned into quite a painful ordeal.
I hiked with two excellent hikers who were always having to wait for me. During the last three hours of the hike, I gave up any pretense of trying to keep up with them. At this point, I was merely trying to survive. While I was going up hill, my heart would race up to my max heart rate. While I was going downhill, my big toes kept jamming into the front of the boots. My big toes became extremely painful. I hope I don’t lose my big toe nails. When I was walking on level ground, well, I don’t really remember any level sections on the trail. Luckily I had packed my gym shoes in my backpack. On the way back my friend Debbie forced me to stop and put on my gym shoes. Actually Debbie put on my gym shoes and tied them for me because my back hurt so bad I could not bend over to put on the shoes or tie the shoelaces. I don’t know how I would have made it back if I did not have the gym shoes to change into.
When we finally reached the parking lot almost seven hours later after our departure, I could barely walk. My legs were shaking and my feet ached. All the stepping up and down completely drained the strength out of my legs.I just barely finished. Now I am sitting in the coach wondering if I will be able to walk tomorrow. During the hike, I remembered a picture of a turtle I saw last week. The caption said, “I may be moving slow, but forward is forward.” I kept telling myself forward is forward as I struggled through the ordeal.