A New challenge 6/7

Today DG woke up the most tired she has been since starting on 4/4. She felt she could have slept much longer but this wasn't going to happen. Yesterday we hiked 13 hours and went to bed without dinner. This morning was an UP morning as far as direction of travel. You would think that after this many days of hiking we would be getting fitter. NOT!! Sucking wind this morning DG realizes that at a certain age you do not get fitter. There is only so much a 59 year old heart can perform or 59 year old muscles . No matter how hard they work their 40 year old heart is gone, not to be reclaimed. They kind of knew this from climbing experience. DG and TC are not going to get faster. They may be able to walk longer but not faster. They are thinking It may NOT get easier which is a bummer. They will not be doing 30 mile days like the twenty year olds. There is no pain (except when they do something new like leg sucking) and every morning they feel recovered (TC thinks this is realitive & we would need to rest a week before we really knew)  (except for this morning) but there are limits to what a body can do. Surprise, surprise. 

      They have crossed the two hardest passes and as of today they have crossed the most dangerous rivers. Today they forded Bear Creek which is wickedly fast and full. They were into it up to their thighs but the river was moving so quickly their hiking poles were more dangerous than useful. The hikers were having to fight to keep their poles steady. The anticipation of River crossings has been TC's greatest fear but she did well, staying focused. DG was ready to jump in if something happened but all went well. It should all be downhill from now on right? 

        DG had a drug-like experience (as in "far out") today. She brought her MP3 player on the trip but has not listened to it. Today TC listened to Adelle for awhile 

(only her second time listening) and told DG to try it. As soon as she was plugged in listening she totally disconnected from her body which resulted in dizziness, a bit of hysteria and a total loss of power. For over two months she has been 100 percent connected to her breath and the sound of her sticks hitting the ground. Her breath rate has controlled her pace. Hearing her breath has kept her grounded and in touch with her body. Listening to Adelle she couldn't hear her breath and that disembodied her. She knew she was moving but she couldn't feel it- like she was walking in place and going nowhere. Her head was filled with music and she had no body that she could feel. At first it was amusing and extra-terrestrial but it became irritating and she had to turn off the music. While listening she heard every nuance of the music: the orchestration, back-up singers, one bar guitar riffs, subtle changes in rhythm. She had never heard music so clearly. Wearing eArplugs tunes out everything else but she couldn't do both things. She has been studying the mind- body connection for years never realizing that the body needs the mind and is pretty messed up without it. She thinks that with this plug -in generation gig we are all becoming more and more disembodied. Our bodies would like more attention. They want the importance of the breath to be understood and appreciated. What DG understood from her immediate disconnect was that the breath is what links  body and mind.

       In less words than this, DG shared her experience with TC. TC quietly looked and her and said. "Freak". This is not the first time TC has called DG a freak. Apparently TC did not have the same experience listening to Adelle.

Looking back toward Gable Peak.