Getting settled in Poland

Well, this last week was just easing back into hiking each day. My brand new boots got a nice break-in period, with a cool 18 miles of hiking on Monday, followed by 20 on Tuesday (9 hours in the rain)! I guess I didn’t waste any time getting back into the groove. Now that I don’t have to worry about getting back to my place each night in time to check and send some emails (no internet or phone where I have been staying), I figured I might as well cover as much distance as possible each day in the outdoors. It was great being out in the mountains here again and I forgot how beautiful they are. Walking through the forest alone and then stopping to look and listen to everything, it all seems surreal. There are moments of dead silence, when I could hear a leaf hit the forest floor about 20 meters away. I am the only one disturbing the perfect silence. What would this forest look like without humans around? It’s just a thought.
It is awesome hiking alone, thinking about all possible things while hiking hours through colorful forests. One definitely gets to know one’s self much better doing this day after day. However, too much alone time is also bad and some thoughts are better left alone. I guess this is a balance, just like everything else. I do wish I had someone to talk to though. I went almost a week without saying a word to anyone (except “Dzien dobry” (hello) to passing hikers). I have had to rely on Dave Matthews Band, Charles Dickens, and a few others for company.
Everything else seems to be going smoothly, and I even found a really fresh wolf scat my first hike. I am talking hours old! The weather has been a little crazy. My colleague here said that it hadn’t rained for some time. I must bring rain, because my second day here it started raining very hard in the morning and didn’t let up until 96 hours later. Rain is nice and brings a peaceful, refreshing feeling with it, but honestly, I could use some sun right now.
This next week I will be staying in a different mountain shelter within the same wolf pack territory, so I can hike into some new areas. I hope that shelter is similar to this one I have been staying in, because this one is sweet. Living out of my backpack isn’t much fun. It really feels like I am traveling, rather than actually living here. I guess I shouldn’t complain though. I do get to see a lot of cool areas that most people don’t. Now all I need is to see one of these wolves I am trying to help protect!
Signing out for another week.