The Long Trail : Day 14 : Part 1 : 10/4/20 . We woke up early knowing it would be a tough day and we needed to cover some decent miles. We started hiking at 7:20 am and I was wholly unprepared for how “exciting” the day would be. . The first 2 miles consisted of a 2 hour scramble to the summit of Camel’s Hump. The scramble was actually fun and the views were spectacular! The best of the trip so far. My goal was to embrace the slow speed and enjoy the trail and sights around me. That was easy enough until the descent. . It was tedious and long and started to get real old real fast. I was doing my best to see things as a fun adult jungle gym instead of a ridiculous trail. My forced positive attitude ran out well before the end of the descent. After 4 hours we had only gone 5.4 miles and my hopes of making it to the shelter 17 miles away we’re starting to feel a little far fetched. . Here’s the thing. I knew this trail was going to be slow and hard but watching the miles go by SO slowly is incredibly frustrating. Since thru hiking each day sort of feels like a work day, imagine it’s like going in for an 8 hour day and realizing at lunch you’re going to need to put in a 12 hour day instead. It’s all about managing expectations but this time my hopes didn’t match up with my reality. . Thankfully the end of the day cut us a few breaks and an afternoon coffee gifted me with extra energy. We gained some time back on a 3 miles road walk then we found ourselves pleasantly surprised by the steep but smooth terrain of the following 5 miles. Making our way quickly and easily through the last miles of the day, we arrived at our destination with an hour of daylight remaining! 16.9 miles were behind us and I was dang proud of what I’d accomplished. I went from defeated unmet expectations to wholly exceeding my expectations within a matter of hours. My hiking abilities never changed but my perspective did. Choose the perspective that serves you well each day. That’s real easy to say but much harder to practice.