Ow, I hurt

So going on a new hike with my sister yesterday afternoon seemed like a good idea. I didn't want to go the longer 6 mile hike by myself, so inviting her along seemed nice because we could both get some exercise and some talking done. I talked to a guy at the information desk, and thought I knew what I was doing. When he said, "loop," I thought, "circle." That doesn't seem too far off the mark, right?

So apparently, there are hiking trails out there that are not on the map, most of which are horribly, horribly unmarked. A "loop" trail is apparently a there and back trail, not a circle. Apparently I'm a pretty good tracker because some parts of the trail went over rocks and the only way we found our way was to follow the occasional foot print in the dry dirt (the only time this past month I've been glad we're in a drought, I'm back to hoping for tons of rain). And apparently, I can walk roughly 7 miles on some nice flat-ish, and some "very strenuous" trails in about 2 and 1/2 hours. We walked from the visitor's center, to Pigeon Hill, around the mountain, up over Little Kennesaw mountain, halfway back up Big Kennesaw, and down the only road in the whole place. We were the last car to leave the park, just as sunset was creeping on us, and thank the gods, they didn't lock us in. The only thing that kept me going towards the end of it is that I knew no one could come and just pick us up.

I feel accomplished. I've probably not gone on a hike that long since I was a kid, camping with my family every summer. When we got to the actual road (and only another mile back to our car) there were some really breathtaking views and I pointed out exactly where we had hiked to Natalie. I think if she hadn't been so tired, she would have wanted to kill the guy who led me wrong. I'm not necessarily thinking too happy thoughts about him myself. And oh! do I hurt. I stretched last night, a lot, and I lost about 2 pounds, but do I hurt this morning. I can't even put on shoes because of the blisters, none of mine nearly so bad as Natalie's.

The up side: We saw four deer, two bunnies (one of which just sat there watching us as we went by), one baby snake, one lizard, 2 metric tons of squirrels, chipmunks, and birds. And the 2 pounds. And I know that that trail is bad idea purple plaid polyester parachute pants. And I don't want to wear those bad idea pants again anytime soon.

Also, this morning I got an email from another JET in Miyako. I'm so happy to hear from people! It helps the restless feeling of not having heard from the contracting organization yet. I know I'm being impatient, it's only been a week and a half since I got my placement. And I know they are working on it, it just stinks sitting here waiting.