Day 26, 7-10-07

We really looked at the date today and realized that our time out here was growing short. That was a little sad, and we didn’t really want it to happen, but it did. Sigh. Oh well. We covered some serious ground today. The water source we found was incredible. A stream that was pouring a serious line of water…it was great. We tanked up in nothing flat. And then gorged on water. After letting the water settle a little, we set out, Gretchen taking the lead. She was rolling, and we didn’t want to lose her, so C and I kept pace. So-Close saw us as a challenge, so she kept pace. And we rolled. It was fast. We crossed our first stile (a set of steps in a fence to keep cows in, but let hikers get through the fenced in area), and ate lunch. C and I decided to upgrade our lunches to a bagel and a half. Our Elmer’s fat stores had long since disappeared. So then we had the climb of death. It was a long climb. When we made it to the shelter, I had a moment of Déjà vu. A few years ago, I went on a backpacking trip with two guys I knew in undergrad. We tried to do 30 miles of the AT, and I think we could have done it if they hadn’t been so out of shape and unmotivated. We had stopped at a shelter, and it looked a lot like the one we made it to that night. Once we made it to the shelter, C and I, after eating a clif bar (the tastiest energy bars ever), set up fairly quickly. It was threatening rain, and we needed to get our hammocks and toasty sleeping bags out of the threat of water. We then went back to the shelter (the Prof and So-Close were there) and had some Fascist Apple Pie. After C and I had went to bed last night, they kept talking with the Old Thunder guy. They discovered that he had half a dozen different distasteful views of the world/prejudices. He had given C and I an apple pie mix that he had and didn’t want, so we made and ate it. Then the Prof made some hot chocolate and we passed around the pot of it. Tasty.

C, in the mist of the morning













An awesome flower


















An awesome tree in the middle of a glen.


















Another awesome flower.













The trail wandered onto an old dirt road for a while, and it got pretty open and awesome.













Another old tombstone.













The explanation of the old tombstones.













Likewise.


















Likewise.


















The cows that were kept in by the stile.













C and I on our first stile.


















A stream along the path of the climb of death.


















A view at the top.