Savage, Po, and their dog, Spartacus, stayed on the deck of the shelter last night. Spartacus is a Great Pyrenees/Australian Shepherd mix (I’m assuming Pyrenees mother because an Australian mother would probably have exploded during the mating process—it’s easier to think of a doggy step ladder). Spartacus is a certified therapy dog for Savage because she was injured in the military and has 6 vertebrae fused together; it’s pretty amazing that she is even able to be out here. The Australian Shepherd is a perfect addition to the Pyrenees line; it’s gives more energy to the dog yet still has the laid back sweetness of the Pyr. The most interesting feature is he has one ear from each breed, so he always looks half attentive.
The six of us (Stickers, Lady Bug, Patches, and Gnome) all agreed to meet at Marble Springs this evening with the goal of making it to Glasgow by Saturday to resupply and stay in town for a night. Gnome took off with us while Stickers and Lady Bug were getting packed. As usual, Patches was the first up. The most amazing thing happened today, though. She was also out about 5 minutes ahead of us.
We got to do the other 4,000’ of climbing that we had avoided yesterday. Gnome has sharp eyes like Bunny’s son, and he spots animals, reptiles, and plants all along the trail that we miss. He saw a box turtle a few feet off of the trail and showed us how to determine the sex of the turtle.
The six of us all met up again for a break at Cornelius Creek Shelter. Even though Stickers and Lady Bug started out an hour after we did, they covered the 5 miles to the shelter to arrive while we were still resting. It was relaxing and fun to have the whole tramily together during the day.
The three of us (Gnome hikes our pace) took off while the others were eating. About another mile of the trail was Black Rock Overlook which we decided to stop at. As far as the eye could see was only wilderness. It still bewilders me that we have such an extensive wilderness along our most developed eastern coast. I’ve always thought we had to head west to get away from civilization.
Once again, the FAA trusts us much more than the Smokey National Park does. We were able to walk within a few feet of one of the air tracking radar installations on the east coast. I’m glad we are well past child bearing years because any sperm or eggs we contain were surely fried by the radiation.
We passed under the USA answer to Norway’s Kjeragbolten—a Rock balanced between two cliffs. Granted, in the Norway version, it’s over a 3,000’ fall to the fjord below, while we choose to walk under ours and call it “The Guillotine”. If it fell, I think “The Crusher” might be a better name.
We passed another shelter in the late afternoon: Thunder Hill Shelter. We met a couple of old guys that had hiked the AT a couple years ago and were walking all 470+ miles of the Blue Ridge Parkway this year. After all the road walking we did on the Camino de Santiago last year, this did not sound the least bit appealling to us.
Since it was almost 5 when we set out from the shelter, we had our doubts that anyone else would catch up with us at Marble Spring. We still had 7 miles to go and would be lucky if we made it before dark. So far, we haven’t had to pull a “Daniel Johnson” and set our tent up in the middle of the trail, but you never know what will happen.
Even after all the climbing we did earlier in the day, we still had another major climb (for us, at least, after having already climbed 4,000’). It was only 700’ but at the end of a 17 mile day. This turned out to be a PUD in my opinion as there weren’t any new views we hadn’t already seen and we could have just walked around the face of the mountain to get to where we were headed.
We set up camp at dusk. There were already a couple of weekenders set up when we arrived. Bunny got water while I set up the tent and hung the bear bags. She then inflated the pads and made the beds while I cooked. As soon as I took off my boots, I felt my ankles getting attacked by chiggers. We were fed and in bed by 9:30. No one else showed up.
EFG