Scott's Ultra Challenge - Day 2

Day 2 Stats:
Dedicated to Nick Glasgow
Start: Crystal Mtn Campsite in Dalton, MA
Low point: 1,112 ft Gulf Rd in Dalton, MA
High point: 2,220 ft Crystal Mtn in Dalton, MA
End: Upper Goose Pond in Lee, MA
Distance: 25.75 miles

Okay, lets just get one thing straight this morning… I was WRONG… sleeping with no sleeping pad was NOT fun last night. My thin sleeping bag was no help and I served to heat the cold ground and rocks underneath my tent. I was cold and wicked uncomfortable all night and got very little sleep. I am sore everywhere now and my leg muscles (quads) are so sore I can barely stand up. Sitting here in my tent this morning I have decided I’ll probably have to start out walking to get my legs loose enough to run… I’m so sore I can’t really even stretch out my muscles because they feel as if they’ll rip in two.

I really needed my thermal tights last night but didn’t pack them and I broke a cardinal rule in Boy Scouts and did not put on a pair of clean, dry socks and base layer before going to bed so my feet and core were cold too. I won’t forget that step tonight!

I have no blisters or hot spots on feet thank goodness but I am already getting chafing elsewhere and its NOT comfortable. Time to dig into my medical bag. My pack is also sitting perfectly so far. My shoulders are not sore, nor are my hips which I thought would happen with 17 lbs bouncing on my back as I run. Its different than just hiking with a pack… the bounce between strides makes a tight fitting pack all the more crucial. If only my legs were in as good a shape as every other part of my body! You know I’m hurting when the college kids got up and broke camp before I did!

Crystal Mountain is shrouded in clouds and mist this morning which makes the constant wind cold and raw  I set up my tent in the only direction I could given the limited space and it faced the wind last night… not good. My tent is designed to let the air flow through it for good ventilation, which is nice in warn weather or when you have a toasty warm sleeping bag and pad. Last night it acted as a wind tunnel and I was quite chilly.

Well I’m not gonna make it 26 miles down the trail today unless I get out and on the trail soon…

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Today was a brutal day. I knew day 2 was going to be really hard after a tough Day 1 made me sore, but I never imagined this. I’m now sitting on the porch of the Upper Goose Pond Cabin relaxing but this day was anything but relaxing. I’m embarrassed to say that I was so close to quitting multiple times today and was totally miserable. I was sitting at the bottom of the pit of despair most of the day and I am quite sure I would have quit had it not been for 3 small acts of generosity that saved me at my lows.

I was only about 1 mile into my 26 mile day and was hurting so bad that all I could think about was running out to a road somewhere and having Jan come pick me up. At that point I stopped briefly and said a short prayer… I told God that this was very important to me and I could really use some inspiration. It was strange, as bad as I felt I didn’t ask for much, nor did I complain about being stuck in this 45 year old body. I took a drink and started to run again, and as I rounded the next turn in the trail my friends from Princeton OA were there and they lined the trail and clapped and cheered me on as I passed. I told them how much I needed that, wished them well and continued up the trail towards Dalton, MA. As I ran away I looked up briefly and thanked God for that inspiration he brought me, my spirit was rejuvenated and I had a bit of a spring to my stride again.

I got lost once today, no not in the wilderness but on the streets of Dalton, MA! A unknowing non-hiker decided to staple their tag sale sign over the blazes (markers) on the telephone poll that marked where I was supposed to turn. I ended up running another 6/10 of a mile down the wrong road before I figured out something was wrong. Had I had my AT maps handy it would have been intuitively obvious where to turn but I was in a fog and simply following blazes. Another 1.2 miles added to a day I already couldn’t see myself completing.

I came up with a survival mantra that I told myself over and over again… “Every step you take gets you closer to home, and every stride you run gets you there quicker” Amazingly it worked great! It never failed to get me running again even though I felt like I couldn’t run another 10 feet. And once I got running, it was usually easy to stay running until something stopped me. It was like autopilot… the faster I ran, the less time I had to think about how much I hurt because I was too focused on the terrain ahead of me and where I needed to put my foot next.

I ate lunch along Branch Rd near a peaceful pond, the sun was strong and I actually got a bit of a burn on my face. It felt good to rest since I was so sore. A couple came down from the nearby October Mtn campsite and we chatted for a while. They live in MA and decided to camp on the AT after having talked about it for years… they weren’t hiking though, just enjoying the outdoors. The saw how small my pack was and asked if I needed food because they had lots in their cooler in the truck. They were very kind… everyone out here on the AT willing offers to share food, medical supplies, and knowledge. What a nice escape from the reality of our world.

Getting going after lunch was real hard and I was running very slowly today so I wasn't looking to get to camp until near nightfall. My morale had plummeted again and I was again thinking that I couldn’t make it, I was very frustrated. I looked up again and without asking for anything in particular spoke to God and said something like… “That inspiration was nice this morning but its all gone now and I have no idea how I can continue on” I then promptly tripped over a root or rock and almost fell flat on my face. I decided then that if I was to have any further conversations with God that I would do it while standing still for my own well being. A very short time later I could hear people ahead of me and my bear bell signaled them I was approaching too. It was another group of Princeton OA students, a group I had not seen before, but instinctively they parted on the trail to make room for me to pass and cheered me on while hooting and hollering. I have to say that timing is everything and I sure needed that second bit of inspiration right then!

There really wasn’t much to see on Day 2 since I was in heavily treed areas and I didn’t take many pictures because my attitude stunk so bad all day. After mile 20 or so every step was torture on my legs and I had no energy. When I finally reached the footbridge over the Massachusetts Turnpike, I was toast. I was glad because I knew that camp was only 1.25 miles away but I was hurting so bad that even that knowledge didn’t raise my spirits. I called Jan from the overpass because I figured I could get good cell phone coverage on the Mass Pike… I’m sure she could tell from my voice how down I was. I talked to her about quitting and she tried to pick my spirits up as best as she could but no amount of encouragement was going to help me… I was a beaten man at that point. I feel really bad, because I know she is probably concerned for me this evening.

That last 1.25 miles was horrific… it was all steep uphill which I somehow missed on the map and that made me even angrier. I just wanted to get to the campsite. I was also angry because the cabin had closed 2 days ago and I would have liked to sleep in a rustic old AMC cabin. When I finally got to the turn off I realized that the cabin and campsites were yet another ½ mile off the trail! “Man, give me a break!” I thought.

Getting to the campsite was good. I limped in to find all the campsites filled by those darned OA students again! They weren’t the groups I had seen earlier, these were new groups and they had every right to the spots they took. I couldn’t see that though, I was angry because they took all the decent spots and I angrily tossed my pack onto another rocky patch of ground. I grabbed my towel and face cloth and headed to the lake to wash up… I was in no mood to talk to anyone. I decided then and there that when I met my parents to get resupplied the next morning I was going to instead tell them to take me home. I was a broken man and it really hurt to admit that I felt defeated. I had a battle raging in my head… on one hand I couldn’t push myself any further physically or mentally… on the other hand I couldn’t possibly quit, that just isn’t who I am but I knew I didn’t want to be here right now. I looked skyward again and complained to God in a manner far less constructive than I had earlier today. I’m sorry to say there was definitely no request or thanks in our conversation this time, and it was much more accusing and irreverent.

As I walked past the cabin to the pond there were people on the front porch which I assumed were college kids taking advantage of the tables. I ignored them as I walked past, I was angry and I did NOT want to socialize tonight. Someone called out to me though and invited me up on the porch, I felt obligated to go say a quick hello. It was the caretaker and he asked if I wanted to stay in the cabin tonight. I was confused and I’m sure I looked the part so he explained that there were plenty of bunks and I was welcome to use one… and he just picked blueberries so he’d have blueberry pancakes for us hikers in the morning. Every bit of anger, every bit of hopelessness drained out of me in that instant and I graciously accepted his offer. I said I needed to wash up and then I’d bring up my backpack.

I soaked my legs in the icy water as I washed up and it felt good but did little to reduce the pain in them. I changed into clean clothes in the seclusion of the pond and headed back to the cabin with my pack. Kevin (the caretaker) took me up to the second floor and I saw those glorious 2x4 and plywood bunks with mattresses! I was going to get a decent night sleep tonight!

The cabin is very simple with no electricity or water. It has a few gas lamps downstairs, a gas stove, and a big room for eating and relaxing. There are jugs of pond water on the porch that you need to use your own filter on but that is fine for me. I need my headlamp to get around after dark with no lights but again that is okay with me.
I boiled my water for dinner and started rehydrating my dehydrated meal as I sat and talked to my new friends… Two young women (trail names Itchy and Misty), a couple from Newport, RI, and the caretakers for the week Kevin and his fishing buddy George.

Itchy and Misty are section hikers who had started a few days ago at the MA/CT border and heading north thru MA and VT to the NH border before calling it quits for the winter. They are taking time off between high school and college to do as much of the AT as possible. The couple from Newport (I forgot their names already) are heading south into CT but have aspirations of hiking end to end. They own a sail-making business and she came from New Haven, CT and he from Massachusetts originally so they felt like neighbors.

Today was dedicated to Nick Glasgow, a young man I have never met who works for EMC on the left coast. He has Leukemia and just received a successful bone marrow transplant a month ago and is weathering the tough period where your body may reject the foreign matter placed in it. I’ve been following his progress for many months and pray that he continues to beat back the cancer. Gosh I wish we could defeat this disease!

I stretched my leg muscles in the dark at my bunk for the first time during my trek. My muscles were extremely tight but stretching was good for them, and having climbed into my sleeping bag I know that I will be okay come tomorrow after a very good night’s sleep.