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awesomeness.

Current Mood: crazy

ok.. i promise to type all my journals up and junk.
everything kinda mushed together at the end.. cuz we were doing crazy consistent 20+ mile days.. so things just.. you know.. mushed together. but stay tuned. i promise. really.

OH.. i put some pictures up from GA-TN.. here's the link - peruse the site while you're waiting for my adventures. :)

http://rit.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2037694&l=12435&id=15701170

smooches.

So 3 days ago, 7/16, our group was dropped off at Rockfish Gap by Mrs. Reid and her Mom. We hiked 7 miles - nothing too exciting except for the part where I felt like crap. It was super hot and I become disoriented. I was hiking by myself for a bit and thought I had passed the shelter. I panicked and started to back track to see if I had found the shelter. Luckily Clambone was behind me and turned me around to later find Calf Mtn. Shelter, where we stayed for the night. There were a TON of people there. I think the most people we had encountered at a shelter. Between the campsites and people staying in the shelter, there were 21 people. Napoleon Dynamite graced our shelter with his presence. He climbing up the 'bear poles' to hang food bags... such a monkey.

Yesterday, 7/17, we hiked 13 miles and it was disgustingly hot. I think I heard somewhere that the temperatures were over 100. It sure felt that way. There were no water sources between Calf Mountain and Black Rock - where we stayed last night, and I only had a liter with me when I left Calf Mtn. Needless to saym I was super dehydrated by the time I got to Black Rock. When I got to the shelter I drank straight from the spring. Nothing adverse happened.. just a quenched body. That night Leighton's friend Bert, an avid birder, called in a defensive owl with his small ipod speaker. It was really interesting to see.

Today we hiked another 13 to Pine Field Hut. During the 1st 7 miles Jon and I saw a small black bear. My 1st on the AT - outside of a cage. It was cool! We then passed Juno and Brother Mike who are slackpacking, section hiking south bounders. (what a title!) There was a campstore that the AT came close to and when I arrived I bought postcards with pictures of bears to send to family and friends which would announce my sighting. Egon arrived at the camp store after us and said that Juno and Bro. Mike had seen the same bear.

We all hung out at the campstore and waited for everyone to get there before we went to the wayside for lunch. We had been hearing about these blackberry milkshakes. In order to get there we hiked 1 miled on the AT and .5 mile on a side trail that was really steep. Jon and I were definitely thinking of ways to avoid hiking back up the side trail. and we were greeted with a solution to our trail woes. We saw Juno and Bro. Mike at the wayside while they were picking up their car. We hitched a ride with them back to the camp store and rehiked the 1 mile to the junction of the AT and side trail that we wanted to avoid.

ooohh... Before we re-hiked the 1 mile, we found Egon, Laura and Ben Berry at the campstore with a 6 pack. We joined them, and after buying 2 additional 6 packs, we embarked on a buzzed 6 mile hike to Pine Field Shelter. The first 3 miles was definitely eventful. Jon somersaulted down the trail..

Heyo

So i'm at Woodberry with the bandats and we're taking two 'plus' days here at 'ol Clambone's house. We got off the trail in Waynesboro yesterday around 5:30 after hiking 20 miles in 6 hours. I averaged about 3.5 mph - a record for me. We were seriously bookin it. We got on the trail at around 11:30 after spending a fantastic afternoon/night/morning at Rusty's Hard Time Hollow - an INFRICKINCREDIBLE slice of Hiker Heaven. Rusty, this old dood, has been treatin hikers to a good relaxin time since 1982, fed us TONS of food and was completely awesome. He's totally backwoods - only got electricity about 2 years ago and doesn't having running water, but does have 7 natural springs on his 17 acre property. He was really great.

Freebird, a 4,000 miler, had rallied everyone up that we had been hiking with for the past .. forever.. and got us all to go to the hollow. By the time that everyone arrived there were 13 of us (plus Rusty and this 'unique' SOBO named dirty deeds - a complete character.) There were the 5 bandats, Freebird, Spirit, Danger Dave, Wink, Edge (and Nobee, Edge's pooch), Woodstock (who just bought a mandolin), Prozac (Laura finally got her trail name) and Juke Box, making 15 altogether.

When you first get to Rusty's property you have to walk down his .25 mile driveway which is lined with trees that are covered in all these crazy signs. they were hilarious... most of them. I wish I could rememeber what some of them said. But, the very last sign before the hollow said "You know you're a redneck when you have signs all on all of your trees". Then after you get past the trees you walk down towards the main house where driveway widens and become a big open area, and it's completely covered in crushed cans. Yes, crushed cans. here's the story behind those. In front of the main building's door there's a wood post and once you were finished drinking your beverage of choice, you're supposed to place the can on the post and use a wiffle ball bat to hit the can past a certain point marked by an American flag about 25 feet from the post. If you get it past the post you get a free bowl of ice cream. Out of the 12,000 people that have come to the hollow, only 3 have done it - Egon came pretty close though. I think there were 50+ cans in the driveway from all of us.

So we made this big ol dinner with squash, potatoes and tomatoes from Rusty's garden - and TONS of rice - i think there was a 5 gallon pot FILLED with instant rice. ANYWAY, so we ate ridiculous amounts of food and rocked out to James Brown who was blaring on the stereo. Best time ever.

After dinner Rusty fired up the hot tub, which was a far cry from a jacuzzi... but completely genius. When he first opened the hollow, some hikers told him that he needed a hot tub - and being all backwoods, he didn't really know what one was. After some explanation from the hikers, he created his own. Apparently he's a metal worker, so he's good with all that kinda stuff. So, he obtained this big tub looking thing and perched it atop some rocks, leaving enough space to build a fire underneath and created a steam vent .. and voila, a hot tub. Freebird had said that the tub was actually an old chicken frier. haha. we were hot tubbing in a chicken frier big enough to fit 3 people comfortably.

Woodstock and I went to bed early (12:30 AM) and everyone else was chillin down by the fire pit and hot tub.. after a while Egon came up and.. after having drank some beer, came up with a bunch of empties and wanted to play a round of wiffle.. can, but was worried that he would wake us up. So Rusty took the opportunity to bring out his horn and blew it real loud and yelled up to the bunk house 'is anyone sleeping up there'.. and then blew it again. I guess going to bed 'early' was out of the question... egon took the opportunity to practice his can smashing.

During the afternoon, Rusty had us pick blue berries from the his patch and the next morning he used them in these gigundo pancakes. We all ate until we were way too full, and then Rusty brought out a '1 gallon and 1 pint' bucket of cookies and cream ice cream and told us that we couldn't leave the hollow until after it was all gone. It didn't take much since there were 13 of us - but man.. ice cream for breakfast.. only on the trail.

So.. after all that food and fun.. we didn't get back to the trail until 11:30 and had to hike.... a lot. and.. before 5:00. it was tough to leave Rusty's.

OHHH.. one last thing. Rusty takes polaroids of everyone that comes to the hollow and staples them to a board on the ceiling according to the year. So, I was able to see some of the people that I had hiked with in the north, like Compass and others. It was also cool to be able to put some faces to the trail names that i've been reading in the registers. :)

Yea, so I started this fine Wednesday morning bright and early.. thinking I was going to be able to tackle the Three Ridges. I go to take down the food bags and find a big, gaping whole in the side of mine.. and see all this mouse crap all over everything inside.. and lots of whole in various bags of food. Yea. stupid mice went to town on my food.. it looks like they were in there for a while cuz of all the food that was chewed on and all the scat that was everywhere. man.. so my day started off kinda crappy. So i left camp early after eating some food that the mice didn't get into and hiked down "The Priest" - this crazy 4 mile long descent (wouldn't want to be SOBO) and arrived at the Tye River where i filled up with water.. while i was filling my water bladder, i slipped on a rock and both feet went in.. with my shoes on.. so.. yea. .. after i pouted for a bit.. freebird found me and told me about Mau-har, a blue-blaze side trail that by-passed the 3 Ridges.. which was much flatter.. and along side some waterfalls.. that sounded awesome.. especially since i decided that hiking in my crocs would be easier than hikin in wet shoes.. and blister free.

So.. all is going well.. the terrain was rocky, but not too bad....... and then i do a complete Ass-Plant after descending on some loose gravel... ouch. But.. then i get to the water falls and see a really great swimming hole and had to kinda bushwhack to get there. During my little off-trail expedition, I walked through some stinging nettles.. and that sucked. they hurt.

But then I went swimming.. and I went swimming 2 more times along the trail.. and that made my day 100% better. and then i got to Mau-Pin Shelter.. and Spirit and Danger Dave walked up.. and then we went to Rusty's.. and that's another story. :) read on compadre.

Yesterday morning I hiked .5 miles to the BRP to hitch into Lexington VA in order to get to the outfitters. I walked for about 30 minutes and the only vehicle that passed me was a motorcycle. I was pretty scared that I wouldn't get a hitch because A) it's illegal to hitch on the BRP B) it was 8AM. So I stopped walking and said a prayer.

Within 5 minutes my prayer was answered!

Ken, a trail angel by trade, picked me up. He was awesome! He said he wasn't going to Lexington, but knew someone who was and was on his way to meet her. My day was going beautifully so far! Ken had a register in his car that he had all of the hitchers he helped out sign. and he had a hiker box in his car. (A hiker box is a box of some sort that is usually found in places were hikers usually go to, i.e. a post office, hotel, hostel etc. Inside there is food or gear that other hikers have left behind, and it's free for the taking.) It was just what I needed! I planned to pick up some breakfasts and TP while in town, but now i didn't need to - he had everything. I got some gummi worms too. mmm.

So, after meeting Lois, the woman who was going to Lexington, she dropped me off at Walkabout Outfitters and I bought me some new hikin'shoes. Apparently the same pair as Egon's but the women's version. Nonetheless - they're better than what I had.

It took me a little longer to get a hitch out of Lexington, but 3 guys on their lunch break pulled over and I hopped into the back of their pickup. It was an eventful ride, and since they were on their lunch break I told them to drop me off a couple of miles before the intersection of the trail and Rt 60. I walked about .5 miles and another guy stopped and drove me the rest of the way. My hitch cut about 10 miles off of my hike that day. When I was dropped off at the AT, I ate the sandwich that I bough while in town and saw Clambone, Laura, Danger Dave Freebird, Spirit and Ben Berry come out of the woods. They were planned to hitch into Buena Vista to eat at a BBQ place. They asked if I wanted to go, but since I recently had come back from my hitch and had a sandwich. So, after watching them catch a ride in a truck where Woodstock (a new hiker to me) got out of, I turned to hike up the steep 3 mile ascent to Cow Camp Gap Shelter (and 1 miles descent) I definitely took my sweet time because I knew I would be the only one from our group there.. 2 hours later, poke strolled in.

Meanwhile, I talked with Way Back, a SOBO section hiker. We was really great, nice dude. It made the time pass.

So once everyone got to the shelter we started to make dinner.. rice with cheesy because potato soup. A dinner I had been looking forward to since leaving Daleville. Unfortunately our stove was giving us grief and didn't want to work right away. Poke came to the rescue and fixed it. When we finished dinner it was dark and I was definitely ready for bed. I slept like a rock.

This morning I wokeup to Leighton and Egon whispering, which was strange because they were usually the ones who slept in. I looked at my watch, which told me it was 5:37!! Completely abnormal for them to be up that early. Apparently they both were being eaten up by black flies and had been up all night. So, we all got up and started getting ready to leave.. the earliest I've been out of camp with the bandats, ever. 6:15. I was the first to leave, but still, that's a record.

I met Jon at the top of cold mountain 1 mile later where we had planned to eat breakfast. The rest of the hikers we had been hiking with (Flippy, Spirit, DD and Woodstock) had camped up on top of the Mountain the night before and we just beginning to break down camp. It was crazy beautiful up there.

After breakfast, Jon and I had a lot of fun hiking together. We met Leighton and Egon at Hog Gap where Freebird had set up his tent near some tree swings.

Then we hiked, and hiked.. 13 miles until we got to Spy Rock.. a huge rock that had amazing views of the mountains. We also found spirit there, who was enjoying her lunch next to a big puddle where some tadpoles lived. We hiked the last 13 miles to 'The Priest' shelter where there were tons of little black flies waiting to get the chance to suck my blood. I'm trying my hardest not to provide them the opportunity.

Ramen for dinner. blech.

I'm reading John Muir's "A Thousand Mile Walk to the Gulf", a book that Leighton gave me. I liked this excerpt:

"I am now in the hot gardens of the sun, where the palm meets the pine, long and prayed for and often visited in dreams, and though lonely tonight amid this multitude of strangers, strange plants, strange winds blowing gently, whispering, cooing, in a language I never learned and strange birds, also everything solid and spiritual full of unfluences that I bever before felt, yet I thank the Lord with all my heart for his goodness in granting me admission to this magnificent realm." p. 93

Yesterday we hiked another 18 miles. The terrain wasn't too bad except the last 3 miles, which was down hill. Surprisingly, it was the hardest part of the day for me. My feet we KILLING me. I didn't bring the Vasques that I'd been hiking in since the beginning because my feet were getting too hot and sweaty and the skin on my heels would peel off as a result. So i decided to try mt Merrels. They are a little to small for my swollen hikers feet. There is a lot of stress on my toes. When i had put them on at home they felt perfect, but I didn't account for my feet growing at the end of a long day of hiking. Moral of the story, I don't want to wear my Vasques, so I need to hitch into town and find the outfitters. This morning I had planned to hitch to a town but I watied for over an hour before I decided I should move on and wait until tomorrow to hitch to Lexington to the outfitters there. We only planned a 12.6 mile day today, so I figured It would be easier to hitch in today. Luckily, we only have a 14 point something tomorrow, and I plan to skip about 10 miles of it by hitching in on the BRP and coming back to the trail where it crosses RT 60. 4 miles from the shelter. So, hopefully I have better luck tomorrow with hitching.

Anyway, so because my feet have been hurting me, I hiked a good 8 miles in my Crocs, which was surprisingly comfortable. but, I wouldn't do it too often.

Laura and Ben Berry are here at the shelter tonight, so we have a full house. There's also a big quaker group camped out behind the shelter. They've been pretty quiet. There's a pond near the shelter where FreeBird, sprit and some of the quakers went swimming. I decided to stay dry.

Yesterday I met Freebird for the first time. He thought I was spirit, who I hadn't met until this morning at Matt's Creek Shelter. He hid in some bushes and jumped out at me tryin to scare me.

Two days ago, July 5th, my Dad and I arrived in Daleville VA, at 2 pm. Jon and I had arranged to meet at a gas station that was near the trail. Just as we arrived we saw Jon and Leighton coming out of the woods. I was really excited to see them... it was raining and they were pretty wet, but seemed happy to see me too. Eventually Egon and Danger Dave (my first time meeting this southern crazy man.) My Dad played chauffer for the afternoon, driving the guys to the post office for their packages, the outfitters and to the hotel where we would stay for the night. He didn't stay long though, because he had to return back to Yankee land. After my Dad left we went to Shoney's - an all you can eat (AYCE) establishment. The guys all had three heaping plates of food. I could barely finish two.. It was definitely amusing to watch. They all felt sick afterwards.

Once we were in the hotel room, which by the way was RANK because of smelly wet hiker clothes and boots, the guys were enamored by the TC, and I was exhausted from waking up early at 4:30 to drive down. After a while they got the motivation to help divide our food box.. and we got to bed around.. 12:30. I was soo tired but couldn't sleep. Maybe my nerves were driving me crazy? maybe I was over-tired. either way.. it would make for an eventful day.

Anyway, so day 1 back with the Bandats (this is officially my 3rd 'Day 1' of the summer) Jon and I got on the trail around 9, hiked 6 miles and took a break at a shelter who's water source was the rain water collected from the roof. mm.. stagnant water. no thanks.

We hiked another 6 miles and stopped for lunch.. and i took a nap because i was so tired from the lack of sleep. After that I decided that naps were a must. How wonderfully rejuvenating they are!

After my respite in dream land we finished the day with another 6 miles to Bobblets Creek shelter and right before we got there we heard Flippy saying goodbye to hear family. They were dropping her off near the shelter. The Blue Ridge Parkway (BRP) crosses the trail many times in Virginia, and shelters are often situated close to the road. We waited for her to come down from the road and saw that she was carrying some Yeungling.. a present from her Mom. We had a good dinner and it was good to back with the Bandats.

This morning (7/7) Danger Dave got his bear bag rope stuck in a tree. It was funny because the rope bag and rope looked like they were hanging free, but it was stuck on something random. He found a massive branch and hit is bag to get it down.. highlight of the day by far.

Not much else to report today - I had some good views when the trail crossed the BRP.. We hiked 18.5 miles. 5 miles before Cornelius Creek Shelter - where we're staying tonight, we stopped at Bryant Creek Shelter which was an incredible shelter. It was built to fit 20 people, but can definitely fit more. It had a huge loft and a sweet porch. It was huge. The size of a small house. We were originally going to stay there and do 13.5 miles, but the night before we had decided we should 18.5 to take off 5 miles from the next day, which was going to be a 22 miler. So that was kinda nice. I just wish that Cornelius Creek was as nice as Bryant Creek. nonetheless, I'll sleep like a rock tonight.

so me and my dad are leaving around 5 ish tomorrow. Yahoo says it's going to take 8 hours.. my dad says 11.....................

so we're going to get there at like... 2.. and we're not supposed to meet the guys until 530.
we're going to be sitting around for a while. nonetheless.. i'll be hiking with the bandats.

anyway, i bought a smaller, lighter pack yesterday - 2lbs, 2oz.. as compared to my 4lbs.. something oz. yay.. so that means my base weight is down to about 10lbs.. give or take some ounces. :)

so that achiness that i mentioned a few entries ago...

i have lymes disease.

what the hell.

Current Mood: achey and stuff.

guess who got their base pack weight down to 12lbs... this kid. that's without food and water. so - i won't be carrying above.. 25 lbs.. i doubt that it'll even get that high.
if only i could get a smaller, lighter pack - i wish i had known that i didn't need a 2400
and that i should have gone 'go lite'

nonetheless, this really excites me :)

right now i'm feelin kinda achey - like flu achey.. so i'm hopin that subsides in the very near future.

and i'm reunited with the bandats in T - 3 days :)

Current Mood: happster

Here's a re-post of the mail drops where you can send me some love :)
Be sure to send a week in advance cuz i've missed some letters that have been sent too close to the ETA :(

8. 14-Jul Waynesboro, VA
*Woodberry Station
Woodberry Forrest, VA 22989
9. 24-Jul Harper's Ferry, WV
*799 Washington Street
PO Box 807
Harpers Ferry, WV 25425-0807
10. 30-Jul Boiling Springs, PA 17007
11. 5-Aug Port Clinton, PA 19549
12. 9-Aug Delaware Water Gap, PA 18327
13. 19-Aug Kent, CT
*17 Prospect Ave
Amenia NY 12501
*indicates an address to be used instead of the town P.S. address

This is where i get off and the rest of the bandATs continue on to conquer Katahdin in Maine.

Here's how to write the address:

Name
“General Delivery”
Address (Town/Stop)
“Please hold for AT Thru-Hiker”
ETA (Est. Time of Arrival)


Example:
Shauna Walsh
General Delivery
9710 Gainesville Hwy
Blairsville, GA 30512
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
ETA: 5/19/06

or

Shauna Walsh
General Delivery
Troutville, VA 24175
Please Hold for Thru-Hiker
ETA: 7/6/06

Guess who got a call today from Pearisburg and has two thumbs - this kid!

After a very wonderful conversation with Jonathan - we made plans for me to meet back up with them in Troutville, VA on July 5th. So my pop is escorting this fine young thang to the south for another.. longer.. section hike of the AT... with the bandats!!! holler!

I'm soooooooooooo freakin excited.

I really miss them. a lot.

And, something that i've been meaning to say, but haven't said is: I really still feel like it was a good decision for me to get off. I think I started the trail with a lot of apprehension and negative emotions, and felt a lot of pressure to stay with everyone. But, hiking by myself (and with bugbite) these past couple of weeks has helped me to realize that all of the pressure that I was feeling was self imposed, and that I am so freakin capable of hiking up huge ascents without coaxing from anyone else. (Sidenote: Can I just say that I love my legs. I used to never really appreciate them until I started backpacking. These puppies have pushed me up some huge ascents.. they're simply the best.) I really can do it, and I think that I needed to prove that to myself. I'm capable of hiking 22 miles and not feeling like death afterwards.. really.. hikin by myself helped me to realize that it's all in my head. I just needed to get past that.

So, now that I am past that, and have cleared my head of anxiety - I'm ready to get back on.

I can't wait.

So today bug bait and i hiked the whole SIX miles to Bear Mtn Bridge. Andrea met her steepest and longest incline of the trip - luckily we were going down hill. We also saw some of the nicest views of the week - some to the east of the mountains we had hiked, and some to the west of the hudson valley. we also hiked over the bear mtn bridge.. which was freakin cool.. great views of the hudson, and fantastic breezes!

Before we got to the bridge we ran into this thru-hiker dood whose shoes were completely torn up. He said he couldn't hike over 15 miles a day without his feet killing him. He also said that he had a pair of new kicks waiting for him in Kent. poor guy.

So after we got over the bridge we hunted for the zoo that the AT passes through. It was pretty sweet. not. well.. it had its redeeming qualities - like the fact that it labeled a lot of the trees in the zoo, and it was home to quite a few animals who were hurt in the wild. But other than that.. it was kinda sad. the poor animals were stuck in these little teenie cages. The bear 'den' was a concrete jungle.. with plastic balls and a sand box. poor bears. The lowest elevation on the AT - 124 feet, was in front of the bear's cage.. it was also the lowest in terms of the mood -- :(

After we wandered around the zoo.. we started to hike to Ray's house.. which was about 1-2 miles from the zoo. we barely made it half way through the parking lot when i over heard some doods talking about how they were going to M&R deli for lunch .. which is RIGHT down the street from Ray's. So .. being the quick thinker that I am - I approached them for a ride to the deli. woot woot. Andrea's 2nd hitchin experience!! They dropped us off at the deli where andrea and I proceded to eat some really amazing.. HUMUNGOUS sandwiches. we were stuffed.... and then i got some ben & jerry's.. of course. :)

So that was about it. Andrea and I waited for Ray to get back from work .. we planted ourselves on the side of his house. His sister was a little nervous at first cuz i didn't think she expected us... but eventually she remembered who I was and brought out some drinks and snacks :). O yea, and Andrea was being attacked by the ants. silly bug bait.

until next time,
slick

So, after we were eaten alive at canpus lake (andrea more than me), we couldn't hike a ride from the camp grounds to the trail (a whole 1.5 miles!) so we had to walk it and junk. Andrea got a taste of her first hiking in the rain experience, but it didn't last very long. We only had about 12 miles of hiking on the trail to Graymoor - a friary/nunnery in Westchester County (I think) The bros let backpackers stay under their pavillion for free, which is by a huge soccer/baseball field.. running water and a cold shower to boot! Andromitus and I played with the frisbee for a bit in the big field - staying in the shade when we could cuz it was so honkin hot.

When we first got to the shelter we were greeted by Peace Maker - a super sweet dood who was re-starting a thru-hike for the 3rd time this year! He ran into some problems in NC and PA, something about broken bones. He was awesome. We ended up ordering some chow together from a local pizza joint that delivered - rock on. Andromitus and I ordered a small extra cheese pizza - which, by the way was 14".. by no means a small. Peace Maker had some baked ziti with a salad. Needless to say - we were stuffed... and left 2 pieces for other hikers who might come to the shelter.

Shortly after we stuffed ourselves silly, Grizzly and BP (standing for Backpacker - the magazine) came to the shelter and polished off the food that the three of us couldn't eat. Grizzly was a thru-hiker who started sometime in the spring, and BP had JUST barely started a thru-hike a couple of days prior to Graymoor. He was hired by Backpacker magazine to hike the trail and use a GPS thingy to record data. He's getting paid something like $.93 per mile - not a bad deal - I wish I were gettin paid to hike the AT!! BP later shared some awesome pistachio pudding with me... mmmm. Before he jumped in and out of the cold shower, Grizzly played some frisbee with Andromitus and I which was a lot of fun.

Brother Leo, a bro from Graymoor came to the pavillion with his pup. Before he came to talk to us, he let his dog out on the opposite side of the field from where we were and drove over with the dog in tow - he was walkin his dog. (he's kinda old and stuff). it was cute.. his dog was super sweet and so was he. :)

Anyway, later that night Pebbles came .. who wasn't feelin too good :( so i didn't really get to talk to her too much.

OOOH yes.. I'm forgetting a monumental occasion - the renaming of Andrea from Andromitus to Bug Bite - thanks to Peace Maker. She definitely earned her name.. SHE WAS COVERED in but bites.. big swollen red ones. I counted around 60 on the back of ONE of her legs. They liked her. I decided that a better, and more fitting name was bug bait. Someone actually accused me of knowing that she was bug bait in order to keep the bugs away from me. I .. had no idea. poor bug bait!!


Alas, this would be the last night of our glorious week together.. tear.

Yesterday was the first day of summer AND naked hiking day! Andromitus and I ran into Elvis Trailsley, a 4,000 miler, who was planning to hike a small section of the trail naked to celebrate the occasion and to skinny dip in Nuclear Lake. He was a sweet dood, and a trail maintainer, and also lived
'400 steps' off the trail. He found us sitting on a log eating some fruit that Bamboo had left in a bag tied to a tree. Bamboo stayed with us at Telephone Pioneers Shelter and drove from Pawling to bring his friend Torbin home. It was an awesome surprise to have freshens on the trail, and a note to us from Bamboo!

Tonight I originally planned for us to stop at RPH shelter, which was a sweet shelter (climbing trees, a BLUE odorless privy, water pump.. the whole 9). It was only 9.0 miles from Morgan Stewart. We got to RPH around 11:30 and met 4 girls: Saspirilla, Crumbs and... I can't remember. But I told them of our plans for tomorrow, which was a 18 miler because of our shelter dependence. They told us about Canopus Lake which was roughly 7 miles from RPH. AND it hot showers. FREE hot showers. and free camping for thru hikers. and mosquitos. So we decided it would be a good idea to keep on keepin on to the lake. and we did. and about 2.5 miles later.. i realized that I had left the guidebooks at RPH and had to go back and get them. Which.. wasn't too bad except this really kinda steep ascent that was right after RPH (headed south). Going down was fine .. but on the way back i pretty much wanted to kill myself. AND .. i didn't bring my pack with me (I left it was Andrea), and didn't have any water - so I was extremely.. parched, if you will. SO i stopped at a stream.. looked at it's glistening clear water and contemplated the risk of obtaining some strange parasite. In the end, I succumbed to the deliciousness and had a couple handfuls of water. I couldn't help it. I was almost dead from dehydration.

Oh before I forget. Andrea got an early visit from eh hemm.. aunt flo. and she didn't have much in the way of supplies. So we pretty much stopped traffic to ask women if they had extra tampons. we turned up empty handed.. UNTIL... we came to the road that RPH was situated near. Andrea went up to the houses that were near the shelter (this is a rare occurrence - usually shelters are never near houses) to ask if they had anything. Andrea made out like a bandit. The second house she went to, there was a woman with these crazy dogs who were all insane, and the woman hooked andrea up with like a 2 month supply. :) I was so proud of andromitus for her gumption.

So, in the end. Andrea hiked 16 miles.. and I hiked 21.5. I was wiped. I definitely needed an energy booster after the additional 5 miles .. so took out some hot chocolate.. that i knew i wasn't going to drink cuz it was 189302 degrees out.. and ate it. delicious sugar rush.

And then when we got to the lake.. i had to construct a tent. out of plastic bags and ground cloths.. with acorns n rocks.. and some rope.. and trekkin poles.. and i think i used some medical tape. I had been thinking about the constrcution of the tent from the moment that i we started hiking away from RPH. really.. some of the acorns i collected along the way.
It was awesome and I still can't believe I pulled it off.

It was super small - roomie for one person, reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaally tight for two people.. so i told andrea that we couldn't move once inside.. unless it was to kill skeeters. it was nuts.

Andrea and I woke up bright and early and busted out the 10 miles to rt 22 by 11AM. Along the way we walked over some sweet log bridges, tons of bog bridges and through some fields that had lots of.. cow.. poop.

We did deer tick checks after every field.. but came up with none.

Just before we got to rt-22, there was a tiny gfawn literally 5 feet from us in some super tall grass. It was really cute :)

Shortly after our Bambi sighting we arrived at a landscaping co. building where the AT crosses rt-22 and Pawling was about 3 miles south of where we were. We tried hitchin.. but no one gave us any love.. after about 15 minutes or so I went inside the building to ask if they had a phone nearby.. I told them what i needed.. and a guy in the office said he would give us a ride down there which was awesome bc out of the bazillion cars that passed us on 22, non had stopped. So he drove us to Pawling and I calle dhome and my sister found th fuel I needed and said she would drive it down to us. (thank God we were close to home!) So while we waited for Brianne to arrive we went to a deli and junk.

After I dropped some of my sandwich on my shirt.. my sister arrived and brought us back to the trail. It was fantastic to be able to eat a hot meal on this hot day :) Yay stove fuel.

Today was Andrea's first day on the AT, and hikign with me.. ever. My Dad dropped us off at the Northern Terminus for this section around 7:30 and Andromitus (which I have dubbed her trail name) and I hiked to the 10 mile river lean-to .. 8.7 miles. We made really good time and were able to take a really nice long break on a bank of the Housatonic. We saw a water snake gliding through the water.

During the morning we crossed a rocky bald and lost sight of the blazes... so I was wandering around and instead of a blaze I found a very defensive rattlesnake. aaah!!

it rattled, i scrambled, the end.

Anyway, so Andrea and I have been chilling around the shelter for a bit. We played frisbee and cards and waded in the 10 mile river. We tried to cook dinner, but the fuel canister I bought doesn't fit my stove. Apparently I was the only one who didn't know the the blue cansiters are a nono. So we have to go to Pawling tomorrow and get ahold of someone at my house so that we can get fuel.

this group of people came to the shelter just before dusk for a 10 min break.. they were hiking CT in 2 days - roughly 60 miles. the leader of the group was wearing a lime green tennis skirt, a matching head band, and a purple sleeveless shirt.. HE was very .. in control.

After a nice, short 12.3 day, I'm at Pine Swamp Lean-to with Compass and his bumpin' radio. He's a pretty sweet dood - I'm kinda glad we're sharing the shelter - it's been refreshing to be with someone my own age.

We had a pretty fun time together -- talked into the night about absolutely meaningless stuff.. he gave me a snickers bar which pretty much saved my life.. and listened to an animal eat the rest of our dinner - probably a bear or something.

Compass got his name because he started going the wrong way on the AT when he started in GA.. so, naturally, his hiking partner dubbed him compass for his amazing sense of direction.

Mt. Everett and Mt. Race offered some fantastic views today. Mt. Everett had 360 views with a great view to the west of the Harlem Valley and the Catskills. Mt. Race's views were absolutely breathtaking. I think I got a little teary eyed. I walked along the edge of a cliff for about .5 mile or so that really took my breath way - a great way to start the morning.

Last night, at Hemlock Lean-to.. I thought I would be alone - but I was wrong. I group of 3 women and a young boy named Kyle arrived at dusk - I think they didn't have much experience with arriving at shelters late.. when people were sleeping (eh hemm .. like me). It took them forever to find a branch to hang there bear bag from in a place that was surround by conifers - the best kind of bear bag hangin trees. They also took about an hour to set up their sleeping bags .. no exaggeration. And .. they while they did try to remember to whisper when they were inside the shelter, they used normal voices when about 5 feet in front of the shelter. Once they were almost done - 3 guys came to the shelter and were in their sleeping bags within 20 minutes. Twas an eventful night at Hemlock Lean-To.

Anyway, so silly me - again. When I wrote up my plans for this section, I said I would be hiking 14.2 miles today. I'm not sure what I missed, but it felt like way more! So, once I arrived at Limestone Spring Lean-To, I recalculated the mileage and found that I had actually hike 17.5 miles - not counting the STEEP .5 blue blazed trail to the shelter. I'm SO not looking foward to climbing outta here tomorrow.

My feet definitely let me know that I had hiked a lot today - I got a nice sized blister on the back of my left heel.

When I arrived at Limestone, there was a group of 10 or so boys who are part of an Outward Bound expedition. I started talking to them, but the counselor doods came over and pretty much told me that conversation with the boys was a big no no. So, here I am in the shelter by my lonesome again... well, except a nice little eastern phoebe whose made its nest in the shleter.