4/7/21 Well I didn’t journal last night because I was too tired. The hike initially went uphill. Then it was flat and basically downhill from Walnut Mountain at 4299 feet down to 2319 feet where we spent the night at Deer Park Mountain Shelter. The shelters here are small holding only six people but there were a lot of tents up. I did see a woman hiker I had seen the day before probably in her early 30s with an interesting Trail name Schmel. I’m not sure how she got it but I suspect it was before she got on the AT. Originally from Chicago but now living in New York City and hasn’t had much backpacking experience but seem to be making good time and having all the right gear so I told her she looks like a professional hiker. She is putting out a blog and videotaping some of her adventure to show her family who thought she was crazy for getting on the hike how she filters water and does other routines on the trail. Today I seem to Seem to see “older“ hikers by that I mean my age of 60. The younger hikers have moved past us or the partiers perhaps dropping out.My right anterior thigh hurts at times I suspect it’s coming fromMy back but I take pain medication and just put up with it. Yesterday was a more reflective hike noticing all of the beautiful wildflowers some of which I knew their names from New Hampshire such as blood root, Troutlilly, Bluets and Trilliums but others I don’t know their names but I took pictures of them. I could spend days just looking in books or on the Internet. Didn’t hike as fast just tried and enjoy the beautiful scenery. Leaves are starting to come out but for the most part hiking on the ridges show endless mountains. They are not as impressive as the whites in the fact that they’re more ridges I suspect because the glaciers didn’t carve them up as much. I reflected on my age and that I truly have been blessed and most of my problems have been self induced. It’s been a month on the trail and no TV and no news. Just my thoughts on life and my constant companion who never complains piper. It really wouldn’t be The same without her. Certainly she’s more work by that I mean making sure she gets enough water, feeding her all she carries around food in her backpack and she never complains. I think she’s having a good time and lives in the moment. This is something I am trying to learn to do. The hike gives me a chance to do that and I try and remember that it’s just not the destination were the end of the hike being Mount Katahdin but each day. I’m trying not to worry about things. I’ve been a lot of things in my life a Doctor, husband, son, brother, father but this is different. Maybe this is who I really am. “Gold rush“ on the trail with piper. I think about Roxy and Lola and how fortunate I was to have had them in my life and they would’ve loved this I’ve been lucky concerning my health having lost mom at 59 and I think of her often as she was so amazing. How do you been a different time I think she would’ve hike the AT. I often feel her presence while I’m hiking. I think about Dr. Mike who recently passed away and the vascular surgeon who died of leukemia it is mid 50s and an anesthesiologist he drop dead while biking in his 50s as well.