Spartan Hike - Day 9

 Hiker, and co-founder of American Spartan Inc, Captain Tommy Muir, continues to keep us updated on the day-to-day of the 425+ mile Spartan Hike, via emails spent from his phone.

"Day 9, we emerged from our suprisingly dry cocoons to see an absolutely beautiful blue sky and the light from an unobstructed sun. As George Harrison so elloquently put it, "all things must pass" and it appeared that our battle with this storm was over. She tried and tested our spirit and I can proudly say that not a man broke. We boiled water for coffee and oatmeal over the fire eagerly anticipating the days 15.7 we were staring down. 

Words do no justice to the grandeur and beauty that we were fortunate enough to be trekking through and it was quickly realized that we all wanted to re-hike the miles where we had been staring at the ground to avoid taking raindrops and hail to the face while taking I'm the scenary. Photographs are unable to relay what our eyes have the privilige of taking in on a daily basis in this part of the country and I can only liken it to the photographs and news footage of the aftermaths of Katrina. The destruction in pictures and on tv was of total devestation and they were truly unable to accurately depict what I saw with my own eyes five days after she made landfall in September of '05. 

The beauty here can be seen in pictures and understood through words but not fully appreciated unless with your own eyes. Today was one of our shortest days mileage wise but it was one of the longest in the amount of time it took to complete as we were constantly stopping to snap pictures and take it all in. I didn't think morale could get higher, but this is truly a group intent upon seeing this mission completed and each one of them proved to me that it is going to take an unimaginable force to keep them from knocking out the miles."

         Tommy Muir