Hike slowly.

Pretty sleepy. Went 8.6 miles today. I find myself in a strange bubble of successful north bounders. They all have amazing stories of bears. Their experience & expertise shows. At the moment I am impressed by their feather lite gear and epic number of miles they can traverse in a day. 18-20 - 30 miles even!

I knew that these first weeks would be tough. Learning what can only be taught in the field.

Knowing that doesn't fully wipe free the shame of groaning while putting my 32lbs pack on. Or the gross amount of food I thought I needed. Or finding myself in tough situations. Like today, when it was 94 deg outside and I didn't clean enough water fast enough and found myself out of gas with 2+ miles till the next good source.

I am learning fast out here. Calculating miles. Understanding altitude gains, Knowing when to eat. Some things I know already. Like drying your gear as fast as possible after a storm.

The seasoned hikers have been great helping me get up and running faster that I would have on my own.
For instance, when I get to town in 3 days, I will be mailing home my thermals and anything else that has not been used in the past week.
Also I will get a Sawyer Squeeze Water Filter and some light weight 'camp shoes'.
I want to get/make an ultralite alcohol stove pot thingy. Mine is okay, but it weighs fucking 6oz.
I want to get my pack down to be 22-27lbs max with food and water. I'll need to if I want to make bigger miles eventually. Now I must keep to my 8-12 mi range to build my trail legs and avoid injury.
As lady hiker could not stress that to me enough. I am young, and strong, but she saw many people fall out because of injury. Also, I am meeting seasoned backpackers with 1300+ miles under their belts. I need to fight the temptation to compete. The miles will come. So just enjoy the ride.