Day 22

I've been on the trail for three weeks now and I have been fortunate enough to stay injury free. For those of you that don't know I was actually in a boot cast for eight weeks prior to the trip. I was a little nervous starting out as I had only been out of the boot for four weeks. However, my body rose to the occasion and I was actually able to hike 28miles (44.8km) a couple days ago without issue. To reward my body I took my first zero day (no hiking) yesterday in Hot Springs, NC. HS is a small town similar to New Germany or about a sixth of the size of Okotoks. I had mailed food here before starting my hike so I was able to restock with 13days of food. As a result my pack weighed 40lbs this morning...yuck! We started hiking around 9:30am and we stopped 19.5 miles later. Today was a little rough as there were lots of hills to climb and I was essentially carrying a toddler on my back. Overall, it was a great day of hiking with my trail buddies: puddin', patty cakes, Nova, Sleeping beauty, and Spanky. Tomorrow we hope to hike another 20miles. Hopefully my pack will feel lighter in the morning after eating a full container of yogurt with granola, two bananas, an apple, three power bars, five cheese strings, two peanut butter sandwiches, and two suppers :-) (what can I say...I have a trail name to live up to...fatty)