CT day 12 - 16.6 milesToday we woke up pretty exhausted. I can’t seem to sleep through the

CT day 12 - 16.6 milesToday we woke up pretty exhausted. I can’t seem to sleep through the night because I’m anxious. I’ve never had this issue before when camping, and on the PCT it seemed like I slept through the night every single night because I was so tired from the day’s hike. I’m considering switching to a different pad or taking Benadryl at night just to get some rest. We climbed up and over the ridge on the east side of Mount Harvard. It’s a really cool experience to hike through these mountains we can see from our house. The ridge went up and up and up, and it seemed like it had about 6 false summits. I counted my steps as I hiked, something I often do for fourteeners in order to keep myself going. Each false summit was a big disappointment after putting in so much effort. When we finally reached the real summit, I stopped, put down my poles, and cried for a bit. The first emotional breakdown of this trip, hah. It all just felt really overwhelming—the lack of sleep, the stress of the storms, the climbing. It all caught up to me at once. Nate sweetly rubbed my back and let me cry. I’m always grateful for that. That he doesn’t judge me even though I know I’m being unreasonably emotional. One of the most impactful things about thru-hiking is the fact that you have to consciously make the decision to keep at it, even in the face of wanting to quit. My friend Andrew put it well, that you can’t be afraid of the desire to quit. Because it will happen. It’s the choice to continue on that’s empowering and extremely rewarding. In the end when you’ve finished your goal, and you know how much you’ve had to fight for it, it becomes even more fulfilling.As we approached Buena Vista, we were tired and sluggishly walking down the trail. We finally got to the Silver Creek Trailhead where Nate’s parents picked us up. We waited for a bit in the parking lot when we saw our friend Matt! We weren’t sure if we’d see him again after Breck because he hiked faster than us. It seems we’ve caught up to him after he took a zero though. Hopefully we’ll see him again soon. Nate’s parents arrived and we climbed into the truck. We couldn’t wait to shower and do laundry and lay in a bed!We drove home to BV, the mountains we’d just climbed getting smaller in the rearview mirror. Nate’s aunt, uncle, and cousins were at the house, and it was unexpectedly overwhelming to see everyone. You go from the solitude & silence of the trail to having to interact with others and talk about normal life things. I don’t know why I felt overwhelmed because I love these people a lot, but I retreated to our room for some quiet after a bit. We showered, changed into normal clothes, and napped for a bit. After dinner we met some friends at our favorite bar in town and swapped adventure stories. It was so good to see everyone and know they love and support us on the trail. It was almost 11 when we got home and I could barely keep my eyes open on the drive. We’ve been going to sleep around 8 every night on the trail, so this was well beyond our bedtime! -- source link

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