July 5th, Bivouac, west of Hammondsport, NY

July 5th, Monday

I rediscovered my "pole feet", today i.e. it is when, just like skiing one uses the poles for balance, push off to redirect the momentum of the forward motion. Also rediscovered my swing stride for going up hill, it allows me a steady pace, though not fast, but longer between breaks on the uphill climb.

I started my journey 17 days ago; it feels like 2 years ago. I am beginning to feel a little more confident that I can make the full 7 weeks of hiking.

Question: How do you know you are exhausted ? When you drop a sunflower seed from the Corp bag, and ant grabs it, and you get into a tug of war with the ant, and the ant wins.

Question: When a road is has Hill in it's name, is it predictable that it is a significant hill ??

Yes !!!!!!

Question: if a road is named Smith Hill, is there a Smith farm at the top as well as it being a long hill? Answer: there use to be a Smith family there 75 years ago, Tom, age 78 bought the farm 50 years ago, but the Smith family was long before his purchase. We had a talk about wood cutting and heating one's house with wood. (and yes Smith Hill Rd was a 2-mile steep uphill walk with no shade)

Observation: The joy of the downhill is balanced by the work of going uphill. Corollary: for every downhill there is an uphill -- damn it anyway.