On our way back into town, we made a quick side trip SOUTH on the AT. Somehow, coming in late Saturday night (it was getting dark), we missed a white blaze and ended up coming in on the road. None of us wanted to skip any of the trail (yet?), so we scampered up the 100 yards or so and then back down. It definitely would've been shorter had we NOT missed that blaze. We all felt better after covering our missed ground.
We stopped by the Sunnybank Inn ("Elmer's") to see if there were beds for the boys who were going to stay in Hot Springs one more night, but they were full. We did, however, hear that Still Steve had been through and had asked about us. We checked the Alpine Court Hotel - no rooms and no Steve. Stopped by the post office to take care of a few things and soon ran into Buttons (the adorable hippy thru hiker who hasn't shaved her armpits in a few years, but it suits her just fine) and Screamer (the lovable stoner hiker who may, at times, be mistaken for being homeless...). They had just reserved a cabin near the river and were looking for two kids to fill the other beds. Perfect! Timing is everything...
Buttons and Screamer walked us all over to the cute little cabin and soon after, I had to get on the road... The boys were off the the public library to plan future mail drops, etc. So we said goodbye, but it was really just 'see you later,' and then I was hiking... (and I kinda feel bad that Xan and Brian had only juuust giving my blog address to their parents... and now I'll be doing a few days without them! Don't worry tho, they'll probably be doing just about what I'll be doing... Hi parents!)
Beautiful quarter mile walk in the shade by the river (ahhhh) before turning deadly uphill for the next mile.
It was so hot and muggy and my pack was full of food and water. Hard to believe I had taken a shower that morning. Walked on for a few hours and passed a few other hikers. (going at a faster pace, I'm used to seeing new faces all the time as we pass people, but then sometimes we're caught by a few folks who didn't take a zero day. I guess it will be leap-frog-ish till the end tho.)
There was a side trail at one point to go up (UP!) to a fire tower. Since it was nice out, I dropped my pack and hopped up the .3 miles or so. Glad I did! The sky was gorgeous and the view was panoramic. Got a few photos (on the real camera) and headed back down. Less than an hour later I had made it to the shelter, 10 miles in. I stopped to chat to McGuyver (sp??), who was behind me, but she didn't take a zero day, and a few others before heading on. The shelter was full and a few were tenting, but I wanted to add a few more miles.
Two. Two more miles till I found a nice campsite. Perfect. It was about 7:30, but I still had over an hour of light.
I managed to make a fire (despite everything being wet) to shoosh the bugs away and then set up my tent and made dinner. It was solitary, but really nice and peaceful. As the light started to fade, I cleaned up and went to hang my bear bag. Got FREAKED OUT by a deer that was grazing nearby, but eventually took care of business and am now relaxing in my tent... blogging it up.
I think I've proven that I can do this alone (not sure I needed to prove it to anyone other than to myself...). So, now that I know this, I also know I don't HAVE to do it alone... It's kinda more fun WITH people most of the time, I think... (my über-independence can get in the way sometimes...)
Forgot to mention:
- Xan is pronounced "Zan"... like Alexander. It rhymes with Dan and plan and Jackie Chan...
- My dad sent me deodorant, so it's all pitastic in there now, tho I'm realizing that part of the problem is definitely the synthetic material of my cool Nike dry fit shirt...
- After we visited the spa for the first time, I found a crumpled up bill in the grass... 20 bucks! So dinner was mostly on me that night...
- I have a trail name now! It's Stucco. It started as Stumble Counter because I count my daily stumbles, and then got shortened down to just StuCo... Stucco.) (it also works since I often get songs stuck in my head. During days 3-7, I hopelessly had "Part of that World" from The Little Mermaid either fully or partially stuck in there... Thank goodness Xan knew the words I didn't...) Other names I had considered were: Phaser, Whistler, Downhill Whistler, Goldilocks (Pee-Wee's suggestion because of my hair and because I'm usually hanging out with three guys...), Doonit ("doing it"), and Zanco (Spanish for "stilt"). I like Stucco.
-- Posted from the trail...
Location:7, Ebbs Chapel,United States
1 comment:
Nice creative choice of trail name! I like it too, although "Phaser" will remain a sentimental favorite :) Great job out there, lady...keep it up! Love the updates!
Lauren
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