[at-l] Back from the A.T.

[futabachan@yahoo.com (Susan Davis)]

Ye gods, was it ever dry out there!  I'm back from my A.T. hiking
trip, and will have a more detailed log to post here and/or
TrailJournals soon, but it was so dry that I wound up bailing
out of my Hot Springs-to-Erwin hike at Allen Gap and hitching
back to Elmer's.  Every spring and stream past Rich Mountain,
without exception, was either bone dry or a stagnant mud puddle
full of mosquitoes.  Paint Creek near Allen Gap was running,
but I didn't want to risk getting stuck up on that long section
up on the ridge with empty bottles.

Elmer mentioned that water had been reported down near Max Patch,
so I wound up shuttling there and hiking in to Hot Springs.  The
hike down to Roaring Fork was just perfect -- all the streams and
springs are flowing well, and the blackberries are fruiting atop
Max Patch, ripe and sweet and delicious and covering the hillside
for acres and acres.  But once I got past Walnut Mountain, it
was the Erwin trip all over again -- nary a drop of water anywhere.

I got back to Hot Springs on Wednesday evening for my conference,
and as I was hiking down the mountain, it started thundering.
Sure enough, once I was finally off the trail for good, the clouds
opened up, and it rained every day after that.  Sigh... if only I
could have scheduled my trip one week later. :-(

Anyway, more later....

 -- Raccoon --


=====
Susan Davis <futabachan@yahoo.com>

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