Joey Camps

Day 43 6-30-2015       Sleep  2100 - 1030 Miles 1830 – 1860             I woke up to the maids coming in my room to clean.  Whoops.  I slept through my alarm.  No wait they were just early.  I told them I would be out in ten.  I scrambled my stuff together and headed over to the store, which is where I would set camp for the day.  I got wifi and just tried to entertain myself by catching up on the last 40 days of earth.  With Dragonfly and MossWater gone, Mazama really sucked and I was lonely.  I wanted to leave…it was actually motivating me.  I knew I should dry out my feet and it was getting to the hottest part of the day.  Who wants to hike in that?  So I bottled it up and tried to sleep in the shade with my feet in the sun.  Entertaining to me.  Wizard Island             Finally it was 1700.  I grabbed some last minute snacks and took off.  It felt so good to be moving again “hiking”.   Up the road and back on the trail.  This is awesome.  At any moment I started to ge

Day 42 6-29-2015       Sleep 2100 - 700 Mile 1830             Honestly, I didn’t take very good notes for this day.  I remember the feelings of depression setting in.  I was feeling down from the sudden stop of hiking and the thrill that goes along with it.  But also, I was thinking in general my trip was over and that was really getting me down.  Moss Water and Dragonfly did the shuttle tour of the rim.  They wouldn’t be back until after we had to check out.  I tentatively said goodbye, but I think we all knew I would still be there when they got back.   I just ate and lay comatose outside the store.  I did some research on metatarsal stress fractures, blisters underneath calluses, infected blisters and septic infections.  It was actually relieving to try and figure out what was wrong with my foot and what options I had or what I could do to help.  All in all I didn’t come up with much, but laying my feet out in the sun and trying to keep them dry and dry out the calluses as mu

Day 41 6-28-2015       Sleep 130 – 900 Miles 1827 – 1830             I woke up a few times during the night with my foot aching.  I thought about getting up at 600 and just going for it.  But I decided if my foot hurt there was no rush.  I would be heading into Mazama to resupply and I could rest all day there.  I might as well sleep now while I can.  Finally, a gentleman rolled along.  I said good morning and he back.  He paused, we entered conversation.  Turns out he was heading into Mazama and hoping to get a room for the night.  I asked, well would you want to split it?  And that was that.  I got up as quick as I could and we walked and talked into Mazama Campground.  His name was Moss Water, he was sectioning the trail in the summers.  He was a very understanding gentleman and oozed kindness.  I was fortunate to meet and be sharing a room with him.  He was great moral support for me, as I tried to figure this all out. Well what is the first thing a hiker does when they get

Day 40 6-27-2015       Sleep  2000 - 200 Miles 1782 – 1827                         Ahh, so much better.  It was nice and cool and I felt fresh.  I was still walking on the volcanic rock but that soon turned to dirt.  I hit the highway and crossed.  On the other side I was met by a wall of mosquitoes.  Now I grew up on some swamp lands in the northeast, but I had never seen mosquitoes this thick.  Usually, mosquitoes don’t bother me that much.  They land and I either swat them or they bite, but I don’t pay that much attention.  This was brutal.  I had two, three, four biting me every second.  I could not keep up.  I grabbed my thermal mummy and put it over my head.  It is the perfect bug net…except it is a thermal mummy and thus keeps the heat in.  It was okay in the early morning hours.  But as the sun rose and the temperature shot up, I was dying.  But hot was better than being eaten alive, sort of, kind of.  Well let’s try it.  No mummy.  This isn’t so bad.  A minute goes by a

Day 39 6-26-2015       Sleep   2230 – 430 Miles 1745 – 1782             It is actually a nice temperature in the early morning darkness.  I know this will not last and I wish I could get up earlier and crush more miles, but I have to wait for my resupply.  I reach the road and it oddly feels soft and easy on my feet.  I get to the lake resort and grab my package.  Quickly changing out my shorts and t-shirt behind a garbage can.  You tend to get very used to trail life and forget you are in public.  But it is 700 and anyone up should jump start their day with a dirty naked emaciated dude half crouching behind a garbage can.  I get out of there quick and am relieved when I hit the trail and am out of “public” So nice to vanish back into the woods.  I am having to stop every hour to change my socks.  It is so difficult for me to stop.  As soon as I sit an overwhelming feeling of fatigue hits me and I just want to stay put.  Even changing my socks every hour, my feet are just swimmi

Day 38 6-25-2015       Sleep 2315 - 515 Miles 1699 – 1745             No time to rest on accomplishments.  Today will be just as hot as yesterday and I can’t sleep through the only cool.  I was moving well, how can I feel so great?  Who cares you animal, lets do this!  The music was hitting all the right notes, I was superman.  I passed a couple having sex hardly off the trail behind a rock out cropping.  They tried to play it cool.  I didn’t say anything, but I was thinking, “I don’t care, have at it, I am busy over here trying to break a record”  The sun surely rose and the mercury as well.  I was fading.  Already, geez it is 1000 and I got all day exposed out here.  I got to a water source.  I threw back a few liters, doused my head.  Fresh!  Lets do this shit.  That lasted…for 20 minutes.  Back to fading.  My feet have become a situation onto themselves.  I have sweaty feet but this heat is making them swamptastic.  I am changing my socks almost every hour.  Even still, I ha

Day 37 6-24-2015       Sleep 2200 - 400 Miles 1650 – 1699             I woke up feeling great.  I am going to crush it today I thought as I got moving.  It was warm but comfortable as the sun was rising.  I got to the store early and got right to charging my phone, it had been nearly dead as it hadn’t had a charge in three days.  It was so nice being out in the middle of no where.  But now it was time for society.  The very nice lady showed up and opened shop for me.  I did the usually juice pounding and snacking while I shopped.  The routine…one item every hour while I hike plus two extra items at bed.  20 items a day, 50 miles a day, 90 miles to my next resupply.  38 items.  But probably an extra night as I wont make Hyatt Lake Resort early enough in a day so I will have to wait until morning.  1, 2, 3 …40.  Sweet.  Do I need any tape, medical supplies, drugs?  Nope, they aint got anything I need/want.  Besides Hyatt is a drop box and filled with the goodies I want.  Check out

Day 36 6-23-2015       Sleep  2200 – 400 Miles 1601.5 -1650                         Magical morning heading into the Marble forest.  The cool is really just lighting a fire under my butt.  Flying.  As I write this, I was sitting in the bar…Yup.  Another awful analogy!  I was watching our bartenders hard at work.  Both whom are thru hikers in and of themselves (I don’t trust a non thru hiker to pour my beer) As I watched them work, I couldn’t fathom what they were doing.  It looked so complex.  I wondered how anyone could remember all the orders and work as smoothly as they did.  I often get that impression when I talk to people about my hiking adventures.  From the outside, it all seems so complex and difficult to fathom how it works.  But in reality, when you get inside, you see it is actually really simple.  Just repeated, often and quickly.  Same thing with hiking.  I wake up.  Tie my shoes.  Roll up my bivy, stuff it in my pack and I am walking.  Every hour my watch chimes a

Day 35 6-22-2015       Sleep 2200 - 400 Miles 1553 – 1601.5                         You know when you are really hot and delirious and then get blasted with cold.  How you sober up and suddenly you can think clearly again.  Bam!  Cold morning moving to get warm awesomeness.  I was trucking despite the toughness of the Trinity Forest .  But I am a machine, with a fresh oil change.  Lets do this! one of my favorite power sayings.  You know, when you are asked to do something, you give it a quick thought and realize there is no way you are not doing it.  So to make it a thousand times easier you just pretend you are stoked to do it.  Except in this situation, I do want to do it, I am just like really really ridiculously tired-looking.  Trinity forest is absolutely beautiful.  Definitely hope to go back some time.  I was in go mode, so I did not take a lot of pictures.  But you should just go there because pictures aren’t half as cool.  And I don’t think you have to walk 150

Day 34 6-21-2015       Sleep 2000 - 330 Miles 1506 – 1553                    Clouds They block the sun             Turns out the break I need, was just a break indeed.  Feeling better mentally and physically, I was moving with a sense of ease.  As the sun rose, the sky was off.  I’m a cloud guy, bring the rain!  But that was short lived.  The beautiful morning definitely had me in a good mood.  It was 80 degrees and breezy the rest of the day.  It felt like being in the artic compared to the last few days; welcomed change.  I decided to call my Dad for fathers day.  Surprised, he answered.  We talked briefly.  And then I spilled into it.  I told him I was sorry about the debacle from the AT last summer.  And he apologized too.  We came to some understanding.  It was great.  And more clouds             I wasn’t going fast by any standards.  I would say I was cruising.  Movement was easy and my mind was at ease.  These were the kind of miles I need.  There was no on

Day 33 6-20-2015       Sleep  2330 – 400 Miles 1478 – 1506                         I woke up feeling exhausted and depleted.  Nonetheless, I started moving.  I always feel better once I start moving.  But here I was moving and all I felt like doing was stopping.  Resting.  All I need is a bit of rest.  To get some energy back in the tank.  I need a break.  I moved a long an overgrown trail. I was annoyed.  I had my hand ups blocking the branches from slapping me in the face.  My knee clunked into and rock.  I tried to ease off as I did a forward somersault to the ground.  I was pissed.  Cursing, I punched the ground, threw a rock and then started crying.  Why can’t anything just go my way.  I just need to catch a break.  I got up and kept moving, I always feel better once I start moving.              I was feeling in a fog but just trying to keep the forward progress.  I decided to call my brother and get a second opinion.  He answered, I explained.  He listened so well and ju

Day 32 6-19-2015       Sleep 000 - 300 Miles 1429 – 1478                         I felt good and was moving well in the morning.  I felt like I had survived a storm and things were going to go smooth for awhile.  The trail was easy but exposed out in the sun.  I was getting fried again.  Am I just not able to handle the heat in my current situation? Or is it really that hot?  I passed a few days hikers that looked like they were struggling.  One of them said it’s a scorcher out here.  Sweet, I am not losing my mind.  But that doesn’t help me not get fried.  Ugh, what to do?  So I found ten feet of shade behind a clump of trees and laid down.  Maybe I will get my nap and go later into the night.  It didn’t really feel that much cooler.  When you are up and moving, there is a breeze and your blood is pumping.  Here on the ground, everything is still, the blood pools and you get hazy and weak.  Then the insects come.  First the flies land, then the ants crawl.  FUCK.  Yelling to no