12 ... Gabriel Morrisof nutrients that I would have gotten from juice. Of course the cold,
stormy weather and three days of confinement in my tent didn’t
help much either. I read a lot to distract myself from my growling
stomach and slept, though not as soundly as I would have liked. I re-
solved afterwards to listen more closely to what my body was telling
me—what was genuinely helping my emotional and spiritual state
of mind, and what obviously wasn’t. But at least I did get in plenty
of contemplation time, did some journal writing, came up with a
few more options for what to do when I was done with this trip,
and finished a couple of books. In hindsight, however, I could have
still accomplished these things, and with less discomfort, if I’d aban-
doned my fast when I realized that it wasn’t going as smoothly as
anticipated.
I was basically worn out by the end of the three-day fast, despite
having hardly moved, other than a few brief excursions outside. The
rain had continued virtually unabated, so I’d had little motivation to
leave the tent. The morning following my first meal I was extremely
lethargic—despite having slept ten hours—and found it difficult to
fully wake up. Having slept so much already, I decided I’d better get
moving—though I wasn’t terribly excited about the idea of hiking
through the unrelenting rain.
I packed up my things, took down and rolled up my wet tent,
pulled on my boots, hefted my pack onto my back, and started hik-
ing up the beach through the storm. It was undoubtedly a different
experience than the first day, hiking in the sun barefoot under clear
skies. I hiked seven or eight hours along the beach through the pour-
ing-down rain, before I pitched my tent and camped for the night.
The next morning, with it still raining, I packed up again and con-
tinued along the beach, despite my sore calves and the fact that all
my gear was beginning to get fairly damp. Later that evening, as the
daylight was waning, I pitched my tent at the base of a small hiking
trail that seemed to go straight up the steep coastal mountains. The
next day, at the top of that ridge, I would turn south for the rest of
my journey, heading back south to my starting point.