This morning, I was surprised to find myself woken by Loopy (a fellow hiker) grabbing and shaking my foot. I was dead asleep, and anything short of shaking me wouldn't have taken me out of my dream world. Usually, Chrobot wakes me up, so it threw me off when I found that he hadn't grabbed my foot. I asked Loopy whether Chrobot and Kawecki were awake yet, since it was 5 AM, and the plan had been to wake up around 4.  She told me that they had already packed up and left an hour before.

Dazed and confused about what had happened to my two missing hiking buddies and why they didn't wake me up in the first place, I scrambled to pack my stuff up and head out on the 22 mile journey to McDonalds with Loopy and Raptor. If they hadn't woken me up, I probably would have slept till 8 AM or so, and that would have been both terrifying and terrible.

The three of us got about 10 miles down the trail when my Achilles tendon starting shooting pain up my leg. From there on, I hobbled the remaining 10ish miles, looking like Kevin Spacey from The Usual Suspects. Because of that, I fell behind yet again.

It was strange being so far back from the group (even though I really wasn't that far), just because it put the idea of hiking alone in my mind. As I had mentioned in a previous post, it is really enjoyable to look up at the scenery every once in a while and not just worry about where you're going to step next. Being alone, I felt less pressured to keep a fast and even pace. I found myself looking around more and adjusting my speed for both enjoyment and to deal with the pain. I rather enjoyed the peaceful walk and think that in the next couple days, I'll try hanging back a bit before catching up at the breaks.

In the end, I found out why Chrobot didn't wake me up in the first place. In his delirious state, he thought that my wanting to sleep the night before meant that I didn't want to be woken up early. He has apologized profusely for leaving me behind, but I think I'm overall glad that he did. The new perspective of the trail that I gained was refreshing and worthwhile. Thanks, man.