Despite our good intentions, we had a late start this morning. No one wanted to move quickly. It was 9:30a before we got on the trail. That’s way too late in the day. Everyone just dragged. Our goal was to hike nineteen miles, we barely broke the sixteen mark. It wasn’t because the terrain was all that tough, although the rocks did slow us down. No, we moved slow because we pushed our bodies too hard the day before. Now we get to pay for it.
We started the morning with a smaller push up a mountain. I never thought I would say this about an ascent, but I thought it was actually a nice hike. At the top was a view and near that was an amateur astronomy club with observation towers all over. The club also built a privy that they allow AT thru-hikers to use, which I thought was incredibly kind.
Yesterday we learned that Kirby had twisted his ankle on some of the rocks. He was a day behind us and was trying to catch up. But now he’s injured. As if that wasn’t enough, today his pack was stolen. All of his gear was in it with the exception of his phone and wallet (thankfully, since those are the hardest to replace). Our hearts sank when we heard the news. Immediately we started to brainstorm about how to get him reoutfitted… and quickly. Warthog has the same pack that Kirby had, it is just sitting in our basement. We have another sleeping pad and tent. Both are heavier than normal AT gear, but at least it would be gear. Snow Monkey and Wonder Woman were offering items. We thought that between what the tramily could offer and what his dad had at home, he would only have to replace a few things.
Despite our objections and hope that he would stay with us on the AT, Kirby said his plan is to get a bus ticket to his dad’s place in Florida so he can regroup. I couldn’t imagine being in his situation and hope I never know the feeling. It would be devastating to have our gear taken. Absolutely devastating. I don’t know how long he plans to stay in Florida. I think he hopes for only a week or so. I hope we see him back out here sooner than that. For crying out loud, I want to see everyone in the tramily summit Katahdin!
After spending far too long at the overlook checking in with Kirby and brainstorming about ways to help him, we needed to continue on for the day. After just a few miles we decided to break again, this time for lunch. It was 3p. We were supposed to get afternoon showers, but none came. Our day was hot and muggy. We still got wet, but it was just from sweat.
Photo Above: A “beard nest” I made during a break. Warthog was not impressed, but he was patient enough to let me do it.
We expected it would be a late night again so we stopped around 7:30p at an overlook and made dinner. That way we didn’t have to eat in the dark with bugs swarming our headlamps. I’ve eaten one too many mosquito eaters for this trip already. I don’t want any more.
As we were leaving dinner and starting up on the boulders again, Snow Monkey pointed and exclaimed, “Porcupine!” Sure enough, about twenty feet ahead of us was a porcupine scrambling up the boulders. He was nervous when we saw us and was trying to get into cover. We followed him for a minute until finally he went up and over a rock and into the trees. None of us had ever seen a porcupine in the wild before. It’s probably the animal that I think is most exciting for me on the trail yet! Forget bears, I’m excited about porcupines! A month ago I overheard one hiker warn another hiker to make sure he brings his shoes in at night. He said porcupines like to steal them. Apparently it’s the salt from your sweat that’s so appetizing. I’m not sure if any of that is accurate, but it sure is funny to picture.
We hiked on a few more miles but decided to call it an early night. Again, we were all tired. Plus stopping where we did put us right next to a stream. It worked out really well because we hooked up the “camp shower” (a gravity feed shower head and our friends six liter bag) and cleaned off. I think I appreciated those few minutes of lathering more than any town shower so far. It felt amazing. We use Dr. Bronners soap too, a biodegradable and environmentally friendly soap, so there needn’t be any guilt about the shower either. It’s interesting how much better you can sleep when you are clean. I finally got some of the better sleep that I’ve had in a while. I’m so thankful for that little piece of tubing and plastic that makes up the shower head.
-ansel