Bunny getting ready to dive into another mud hole at the end of a boardwalk
I got nothing ready before bed because the weather forecast called for rain until almost noon. I had no intention of leaving the motel before mandatory checkout at 11. The four of us (Sassy, Bear, Bunny, and me) went down to Friendly’s for breakfast around 8. We were hoping that the cooking situation was better than last night. I was the first in and saw a waitress from last night and the same cook. She assured me things were fine this morning.
We had a fun breakfast together before trekking back up the hill to the motel. It had stopped raining while we were eating, but the skies didn’t look much better. Bear arranged an 11:30 shuttle for our return trip to the trail. There was plenty for me to do this morning to fill the time: shower, send an email to Hydaway, register my camera, and pack. Bunny claimed to have packed up last night, but we were both ready about the same time.
At the trailhead, we saw a sign for a bridge out at Hog Hollow and a warning about crossing in the rain. It’s only been raining for six of the last five days so we were duly concerned. There were several other hikers in the parking lot so I asked if any of them were sobos and knew anything about the bridge. No help from this crowd.
I’m going to introduce a new game for blog readers today. I’m going to show a series of 4 pictures, and you have to decide if I’m showing you a picture of the trail or of a stream. The answers will be provided at the end of today’s post. Enjoy your guess as much as we did taking the pictures.
We stopped at the first shelter we came to which was just a couple of miles up the trail. I needed a snack since it was almost 1 and we had eaten breakfast at 8. Five hours between waking food stops is Draconian to a thru-hiker. Section hikers, on the other hand, are capable of going days since they still have home fat to burn (coincidentally, Bunny and I still have some left, although I wore 32” waist shorts yesterday and they were too big on me—at my greatest girth, I wore a 40).
Prism and her dog were in the shelter reading the log book. Yes, the dog was very into the log. We had seen her in the parking lot, but didn’t talk to her. She lives in MA and thru-hiked the trail last year. She thought we were all lowlife section hikers, but when she discovered Bunny and I were thru-hikers, she became more animated and asked our names. She never asked Sassy and Bear their names. It’s not that section hikers don’t matter, it’s just that they are second class, at best, in the trail hierarchy. Prism will be doing magic tomorrow and we expect her to have rocks for the section hikers.
Bear is a retired NASA engineer, so we have a lot in common in how we act and think. He was a mechanical engineer (even NASA has a hierarchy with engineers so Bear is used to his second class standing). I was thinking of the big differences between electrical and mechanical engineers. Electrical engineers have to learn the entire system or process whereas mechanical engineers only have to learn one subset (and not all that well, knowing that a EE will be following and will clean up the mess left for them). Also, electrical engineers tend to marry any woman that will sleep with them, whereas mechanical engineers will marry any woman that will talk to them (not to detract from Sassy).
Verdemort has the distinction of leading all the other states along the AT in one very surprising category. There are more “F” bombs dropped on a daily basis in this state than in all the other states combined. Just today, it was estimated that 6 figures of “F” bombs were dropped, and that was only the four of us. When you expand it out to include all the other hikers, you are getting to a number approaching Avogadro’s number in scale. For you non-scientific third class readers, trust me, it’s a really big number. Even more than the number of guns in the USA—seriously big.
Bear pointed out the bias inherent in the trail hierarchy and noted his second class standing. Bunny and I pointed out that we are very willing to associate with such lowlifes on the trail—we are very open minded and inclusive of our lessors. He started to tell us what section hikers think of thru-hikers and I stopped him in his tracks. I told him I was well aware of their feelings, but if we were going to be hiking together to Maine, I did not want his hero worship of me. I am more than willing to consider him my somewhat lesser equal. He said “You’re amazing. You are so…” and then, apparently stepped in a deep puddle because the “F” bombs really started dropping. I smiled to myself and tried to bury my superiority deep inside. Even though he’s a mechanical engineer and a section hiker, I like the old guy.
Not a lot of people passed us today. I don’t think it was due to our blinding speed as much a our late start. We were surprised to not only find the shelter full, but all the level tenting spots taken as well. The bubbles are definitely intersecting.
Mud Bug had just gotten here when we arrived and had found a spot large enough for her tent. We were considering going on after we filled up on water, but Bear and Sassy found a spot big enough for their tent near the shelter while Mud Bug showed Bunny a spot up by her. We all decided to stay here since it was getting so late.
We set up as fast as we could, hung bear bags, and cooked supper, but it was still well past dark before we got in our tents. At the time of this writing, it’s the equivalent of last call at a bar and I am getting kicked out. Yes, it’s past 10 and I’m the only one awake.
Mud Bug is going to hang with the four of us for the next several days. We’ve lost track of Echo, but she was just another section hiker so she wasn’t going all the way to Maine. It’s taken us a long time to find another couple to take the place of Lady Bug and Stickers. We hiked with them for almost 800 miles. They just texted us that they jumped ahead of the Whites because of weather and will come back and hike the Whites once they finish Katahdin so there’s a chance we may get to hike with them again.
Luck 59 and Pepper Pot finished the trail yesterday. They started 2 days after us and finished a mere two months before us. I think Mizman is here in the shelter tonight but we were too late to talk to him. We are out here to have a good time and meet lots of people. We have a great tramily forming. We are glad to be hiking with Bear, Ass, and Sassy. They are as good a fit with us as Peter and Marcia, or Joan and Tom, or Axel and Heike. I truly am thankful for all the great trail friends we have made, even the second class ones.
EFG
P.S. In case there was any doubt, they are all pictures of the trail. Verdemort sucks a big one so far. Chad the Dad was right, it needs to get out of our way.
You are making me question leaving Massachusetts 😳 although it’s been rain and mud down here as well. I almost went nuts when you wrote about yo yo-ing!
It sounds fantastic, right?