Stephanie's Trail Journal

June 12th

Beginning Point: Helveys Knob Shelter
Ending Point: Trents grocery store in a field underneath a fifth wheel horse trailer
Daily mileage: 17.1 miles
Total mileage: 598.1 miles

Today went much better than yesterday; we met all our goals in good time and we had a hot meal and beer at the end of the day. We began with a little rain in the early morning (which means a late start for us). Stephan made some coffee with cocoa and we sat around the shelter for awhile with London Len and Smokestack and chewed the fat until the skies decided what to do. The sun didn't poke out until after 11 am, then we had a nice sunny afternoon for hiking (which also means about 110% humidity after all this rain).

We arrived at Jenny Knob Shelter for a late lunch and found London Len and Smokestack still there. Both fellas are in their 60's and are strong hikers. London likes to keep up the banter between us "septics" and himself (the ole' limey!). We like to exchange idioms and various slang terms (for instance, a bird is a girl, a broiler - as in broiler chicken - is an old woman). Smokestack is a trail maintainer in GA near Bly Gap.

While we made lunch and chatted, we pulled out anything damp and set it in the sun to dry. I also shot a videoshort of Dan wringing out his socks... you should note that before he started wearing 2 pairs of thin socks, he used to wear one thin and one thick sock on each foot, and several times each day he had to remove them and wring them out. He would extract about 1 cup of water/sweat per foot! Poor Dan. Now the volume is greatly reduced but still sizable (see video when available).

We left Jenny Knob around 4 and started hearing the distant rumbles of thunder. We made good time - 7 miles in 2.5 hrs - but we spent the last half hour in the rain and sliding down the mud slicks. The last half mile or so was on Rt 606 to Trents Grocery (a gas station with deli and short order menu) where we planned to have dinner. They also have camping and showers for $2 in the field next to the shop, so it sounded like a good deal to us. Only thing is, Dan is now using a Hennessy Hammock which requires 2 trees nearby to one another - something that was lacking in our field. Fortunately there was a fifth wheel horse trailer... so as I type this email, our dear Blackfoot is sleeping (or trying to) with most of his body underneath the trailer and his head under the overhang part. I promise to take a photo in the morning.

At any rate, dinner was good and we bought some beer to take back to camp. I tried to convince London to get a couple of Schlitz Bull Ice 40s, but the thought of a hangover from those killed that idea. He did say he wanted the strongest beer they had (it was 8.9% alcohol!) to be fair.

Its kind of crummy hiking in the rain, dealing with wet/damp belongings all the time. But the trail camaraderie is quite strong and makes up for these little discomforts. It gives you greater appreciation for those creature comforts, I think.

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Posted by steph at June 15, 2004 03:43 AM