I took my time leaving and stopped for a long time at a stream a mile or so away from the start. I didn't have a water filter nor pills to purify my water, so I had to boil it. We each bought two cans of sterno to cook with. It took about one and a half hours to boil about two liters of water. A hiker stopped by as I was boiling the water and gave me his bottles of iodine and nuetralizing pills, as he was finishing his hike soon. I would try them out in one of my Gatorade bottles.
I was just putting on some vasoline on a couple of chaffing spots when out of nowhere appeared Tom Tom. He thought I was a thru-hiker when he stopped running to verify the directions. Imagine the shock on his face when I turned around. He wanted to know how I got here ahead of him, as he had been running for several hours with his 40 pound backpack?
He discovered that he had run on another side trail loope that he wasn't supposed too. He was ticked and said, "There goes my record." He was so mad that he hiked with me for a couple of hours at my slow pace. After a couple of snacks, he couldn't take hiking so slow, and the race was back on. He would try to make up his lost time somewhere else on the trail.
He left again, saying, "No hug was necessary, cause real men don't need hugs." I could argue that point, but what's the use. This time I was feeling pretty low. He wanted to hike with someone and I couldn't handle his pace. I hate getting old!
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