[at-l] Ready's Journal; July 15 TD 33

[kahley7@ptd.net (kahley)]

It was early when we woke up. We just lay there enjoying
the songbirds. One in particular caught our imaginations.
Its call sounded like, "uh-oh, teeheehee." It sounded so much
like the bird had discovered some kind of little error, and then
giggled - it made us laugh every time we heard it. It alternated
with a "wup, teeheehee" and sometimes with 4 quarter notes
followed by the tittering sound.
We were out of camp quickly, as well. Molly has become a pro
at gathering and packing her gear efficiently; I'm still struggling
with finding a true routine.
We walked slowly for the first two hours since we had five hours
to make it the 5.5 miles to the Mohican Outdoor Center where
my brother would be coming with our bump box and to pick up
Molly to take her to the airport for her return flight to Atlanta.
Molly was excited about getting back to "civilization," insisting
that the AT hiking life was not for her. Nevertheless, this morning
she walked as slowly as I had ever seen her walk.
We paused briefly at Sunfish Pond - long enough for Spur to
take some photos of the "statuary" and for me to design a
"masterpiece" of my own. What I'm referring to is a huge pondside
rock pile that folks have used to construct both simple and
elaborate rock formations, truly works of art.
The terrain was quite easy for today's section. Even the short
descent proved easy for my leg, which typically has objected to
downhills of any kind.
Molly and Spur were bothered by the tall grasses which tickled
Spur's legs and hid the sharp rocks for Molly. I was just too
happy to be back on the trail to find any of these things bothersome.
New trailname in order for me? Pollyanna, perhaps? ;-)
We passed a literal parade of hikers - members of the Sierra Club,
out for a group hike. Several of them stopped to chat and we
engaged in the usual "you thruhiking?" question and answer
scenario. It really was a lot of fun; they seemed to be really nice folks.
We reached the Outdoor Center at about 12:30, downed some
cold drinks and set about redistributing our gear. Molly had borrowed
the pack I'd been using, while I'd switched to Spur's and Spur had
used his winter pack. Time to restore the status quo.
My brother arrived around 1:15 and we all hung out for awhile, enjoying
turkey sandwiches, cupcakes, and more cold soft drinks, courtesy
of my folks. Then it was time for Molly to depart. Hugs all around
and then they were gone. We were back to being a hiking duo.
We celebrated by taking a shower. A shower costs $1 normally,
but is "free" to thruhikers. When I learned of this I immediately
inquired as to whether this was a practice intended to "treat" thruhikers
or to "spare" other trail users from thruhiker stench! The clerk assured
me it was purely to "be thoughtful." Hmmmmm. Did she actually
answer my question?
We made some phone calls, checked and answered email and
then we were off again. Our goal tonight was to find a campsite
just past the spring which we would find some 3 miles up the trail.
En route we passed a tall fire tower whose signs warned us that
"trespassing was not allowed." We obeyed the sign and moved on.
We found the spring and filled up our water supply for the night.
Just as we were finishing up, a tremendous wind kicked up and
it started to rain. Fortunately, it was a soft rain and lasted for only
about 25 minutes. By then, after about 1.25 miles, we passed a
pond where we'd learned from the ridgerunner that we could find
some campsites.
We pitched the tent, prepared and ate our supper, and bearbagged
high up on a steep hill above the campsite. The mosquitos were
maddening! We made good use of the noseeum shirts I had sewn for us.
We crawled into our tent because of the mosquitos, journaling to
the not too far off cheers that we assumed were from a nearby camp.
As we journaled we heard the continuous frog noises and chirps
typical of ponds. Ah, peaceful.
Later, we heard a crash which we hoped was just a tree falling and
not a bear trying to get our food bags! Neither of us was eager to l
eave the tent to go check up on that - we'll see in the morning if
our food is still "ours."
As we drifted off to sleep we could hear the mournful sound of
"Taps" being played over a loudspeaker at the camp nearby.



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