Staying Positive

The last few days have been brutually hot and humid, and despite my body beginning to adjust to this weather, it's still sapping my strength with each step I take.  To keep myself from breaking down and melting into a mushy pile of sweat, I've been trying to come up with reasons why it's okay to be spending my days hiking up and down mountains instead of lounging by a pool with a margarita in hand and a cabana boy fanning me. As such, I present to you: Things I love about hiking in hot and humid weather.

1. The sweat pouring off my body keeps the ticks and flies from biting me. This is a good thing, as they've finally noticed how tender and tasty I am.
2. Post lunch siestas. Especially 2 hour long ones.
3. The smell of Mountain Laurel and Rhododendron lingering in the air. The humidity really brings out the perfume of the flowering bushes and the stringent smell of ripe grass.
4. Feeling like a badass for hiking 10 miles when the temperature with humidity factored in is 107.
5. Afternoon thunderstorms become pleasant events that one looks forward to. (Hint, hint, Mother Nature.)
6. Unexpected swimming (or wading) holes. Also: expected ones.
7. Drinking a lot of water, and occasionally for a treat, flavoring the water. Mmmm... cool tea in the middle of the woods.
8. Shelters or campsites next to streams, where one could conceivably soak their feet while fetching water.
9. Knowing how good sitting in a movie theater in Waynesboro is going to feel when I get there on Friday.  The funny thing is that I don't really want to see a movie; I just want to sit in an over air conditioned room far away from nature, drinking a soda.
10. Being done with big climbs in hot weather until Mount Greylock, in Massachusetts.  While the next 700 miles aren't flat, they certainly don't have any monsters, like today's 2000 foot climb over 2 miles.
11. Turning a corner and finding a breezy spot.
12.  Views like this one, when the humidity finally breaks.