Bear started rolling early this morning, but he ended up being the last one ready. It wasn’t entirely his fault, though…he lost his socks. He had them in his hands as late as breakfast but they just disappeared. We searched the entire cabin but they were nowhere to be found. As a last resort, he asked Sassy to check her pack.
For the last couple of weeks, people have been complaining of lost items wherever we have stayed. We thought nothing of it—not all hikers are as organized as we are. Sassy dumped her pack out for Bear to search, but she tried to hide one bag from him. She claimed it was “her clothes bag filled with untouchables.” When he dumped it, Sassy was had. She not only had his missing socks, but several other items people had recently “misplaced.”
I have worked hard this past year to keep Bunny from returning to her kleptomania. We do not go to buffets anymore just to avoid the temptation of Bunny stuffing her pockets full of goods. I’m afraid now that Sassy and Bunny could very easily turn into Thelma and Louise. Bear and I have to sleep with an open eye from here on out, not only for our protection, but for the protection of everyone we come in contact. No matter what, we cannot let the two of them be together in the front seat of any vehicle.
All of this nearly scared the crap out of me, so we brown blazed it to Wintturi Shelter. I’ll carry water to a dry camp, but I will not dig a hole if there is a privy within 5 miles. We got to the shelter and who did we find? Our concentration camp buddy, Rich. He had hiked in 4 miles before dark last evening trying to make it up to The Lookout, but had run out of light.
Rich was a bit apprehensive about hiking with seasoned thru-hikers. Truth of the matter, so are we. That’s why we hike with Bear and Sassy. They are “lashers” that are just in the process of getting their seasoned legs. In a few more weeks, they’ll have them and then Bunny will have to make the decision of hiking with a couple that are fun to be with, or continue hiking with me…Easily Forgotten. They often count off and stop after 3—I wonder who she’ll choose.
We passed some sobos who gave us news of farm stand ahead. We hadn’t been paying close attention to the maps the last few days and had overlooked this place. The 4, née 5 of us (even I forget me) all agreed to stop in for lunch. Rich bought some fruit and a blueberry/peach pie for all of us to share. Bunny and I bought stuff to make sandwiches, chips, a big pickle, drinks, and a couple of pints of ice cream. Bear and Sassy just got a couple of drinks and ice cream.
Rich has a bigger problem than walking with thru-hikers—he tried to eat like a thru-hiker. After he had less than 1/4 of the pie he had bought, he disappeared into a sugar buzz that kept him frozen for a good 10 minutes. I considered slapping him to get him back, but he returned on his own. After my sandwich, chips, 2 cokes, and 1/4 pie, I went back in to get my pint of ice cream I had reserved for dessert. Sugar is normally the enemy, but out here, it’s more of a puppy dog. We need calories to keep moving.
Rich went ahead of us after lunch because we had a nice climb. The 1200’ gave us a chance to burn off all the excess sugar. I really sweat it out. Sadly, more than sweat came out of me as my lactose intolerance seems to be getting worse. Rich blew ahead of us. He has no worries about keeping up with us. It took us that uphill, a decline, and another small climb of 600’ before we caught up to him again.
We all hiked together and talked with Rich about his experience on the PCT, family life, his job, and just getting to know each other. It’s pretty amazing the amount of effort he spent to catch up with us to hike for a couple of days. With recent heavy rains, his flights got delayed a day getting back to Newark and his youngest son is moving to college this weekend so his time with us is short. We met Rich and his wife, Laura, in Munich last year. We only got to spend about 12 hours together in Dachau and then a beer garden afterwards absorbing what we had just seen. We are very honored that he has put the effort into coming out to see us again.
A couple of former thru-hikers have bought a house close to the trail and make their back porch available to current hikers. They close at 4, so we ran ahead to get there in time to have another cold drink and snack. There was a little confusion as to the which road crossing it was, so we lost Rich when he stopped to get water. We caught back up with him about a half hour later, but he didn’t get any more sugary treats.
We came to a field and this time it was Sassy’s turn to crash. She doesn’t normally drink real Cokes and with everything else she has had today, it caught up with her. She had given me some 800mg ibuprofen with something else in it to relieve stomach pain, so I was feeling great. I’m not used to feeling good so late in the day so Bunny and I raced to shelter. That’s right, Bunny and I raced ahead.
Some say it’s not right to perform psychological experiments on someone without their knowledge, especially not your spouse. I’ve been trying one on Bunny for a few days with great results. Bear found a setting in Guthook that changes the way maps are displayed. I have adjusted her maps so they appear more level. I always tell Bunny to look at the numbers and not just the display (which she doesn’t do). Now that the maps look flatter, Bunny is racing up and down the hills. The rest of us can’t keep up with her. I was going to tell her what I had done, but after seeing the results, I may wait until after Katahdin.
Bunny and I got into the shelter first and picked a spot big enough for 3 tents. When Rich got in, he decided to stay in the shelter. Sassy was not feeling well at all and just ate a cracker and went down for the night. Bunny and I went to the shelter to eat with Rich and talk about plans for tomorrow. By the time we got supper done and hung the bear bags, it was starting to rain. We had a great day of hiking with Rich.
EFG