May 12 - 599 Miles

Mile 590

[From Catania - I texted PJ about an article I saw online - where a hiker was attacked by a bear at Great Smoky Mountain National Park]

From PJ:

I got water from that shelter [where the bear attack happened] and was told there was a bear there 15 minutes later. People were throwing rocks at it and it wouldn't go away.

A lot of people have seen bears, but I'm still waiting. I'm a mile 599 right now and I had to stop because it was raining too hard.

I'll hit [600] early tomorrow. I'm only going to do 11 miles or so. I'll stop at Trent's Grocery at mile 608 where I can do laundry, shower, and resupply.

[I'm feeling] Relatively fresh I guess. I mean everything hurts, but I'm still able to do some decent miles. Got 20 in today.

Also - Dad will be proud to know that I ate a hot dog with relish and mustard for the first time in my life yesterday.

Mostly my feet hurt. Ankles, shins, knees. My back only hurts in the morning from sleeping on the ground. Everything aches, but it's kind of how I expected. I wouldn't call it a good hurt but it's nothing structurally wrong. I basically feel like I've walked 600 miles up and down mountains with 40-50 pounds on my back.

Plus, for the last 2 weeks, everything has been wet.

I still haven't had any really blisters. My feet were pretty calloused to begin with.