#188 Stealth Camp to Melville Nauheim Shelter - Day 113: MM1600.0 -MM1615.4
Have you ever had one of those days where wake up tired? Despite a good night’s sleep, I woke up tired today. These mountains are getting bigger...
May 9, 2023
Push was nearly packed up when I wake up at 6:00.
He hikes faster than I do but we keep ending up in the same places at night. He likes getting to the next camp early in the day and I don’t care when I get there.
The sky is clear. Sunlight illuminates the golden branches of the naked trees of the neighboring mountain.
Have you ever had one of those days where wake up tired? Despite a good night’s sleep, I woke up tired today. These mountains are getting bigger and now’s not the time for my energy level to be getting smaller.
A mile into the hike I stand at the base of a steep mountain. I don’t have it in me to do this steep thousand-foot climb. I stick my ear buds in and scroll the iPod menu to Jim Croce. I need the distraction of a legend to get me to the top.
I play the first song, New York’s Not My Home, several times before letting it move on to the next song. It’s about being in a place that you never really fit into. From time to time, we all find ourselves there. It’s one of my favorites, though I’ve never heard a Croce song I don’t like.
The music plays on for about five miles, getting me over the daunting peak and three lesser peaks, before the battery gives out in the valley on a flatter, but muddy, five-mile stretch, where I’m climbing over and under and around many large, downed limbs that couldn’t handle the weight of this past winter’s excessive levels of snowfall.
I pass a tent set up in a beautiful spot next to a small lake. I wonder if the person inside saw any moose or bears. This seems like a good spot to see such creatures moving around late in the evening or early morning.
Heidelberg, a thru-hiker from Germany, and I take a wrong turn at a muddy, overgrown, mountain road intersection. The path closes in on us with weeds, mud, water, and constant downed trees. We hiked about a quarter mile before realizing our mistake.
At Congdon Shelter, Push is laying on his sleeping pad, sunning himself on the ground, while Heidelberg mills around. They both move along shortly after my arrival.
The tent I passed by the lake earlier in the day belongs to Heidelberg. He said he had a great time camping there but didn’t see any moose or bear.
I sit on the edge of the shelter’s platform putting lunch together. When spinach begins to wilt at home, people tend to use the good pieces and toss the wilted remnants into the trash. On the trail, you may not be so picky.
Most likely, you might throw the wilted pieces into the tuna tortilla along with the good, then roll it up so you don't have to look at it, and chow down, because your body need the greens.
Hikers try to never waste food.