David started shuttling hikers to the bakery as soon as it opened at 8. First wave was Sleeves, Curb, and Vagabond Jack. Bunny Tracks, Scars, and I were wave 2. Third wave was Dirty R, Grape Stomper, Stickers, and Lady Bug. We were all talking gear and shoes at breakfast. Only Bunny, Lady Bug, and I are wearing boots while everyone else is wearing trail runners. All of our feet seem to be getting bigger from hiking (flattening out from the extra weight of the packs on our backs).
The first wave hit the trail followed by Bunny and me. Scars and wave 3 returned to the hostel to await deliveries or get ready to head out. Stickers and Lady Bug are supposed to be following us out in a bit because we have already made reservations for a place to stay in Damascus on Saturday night. Bunny told me that Lady Bug wanted to zero today, so we don’t know what they will actually do. If they zero, they are going to have to put in some big mile days to make Damascus for Stickers birthday. We will celebrate with or without him.
Today was a perfect hiking day. I hope we have finally turned the corner into spring. Last night, I got a call from Dan and Sue Settle who are supposed to meet us in Damascus. It turns out that they are fair weather friends and are backing out because of predicted rain and snow there this weekend.
I met Dan while consulting at Continental Tire in Mt Vernon, IL. I had an office down the hall from him and heard him get upset one day. I hadn’t met him up until then, but he was ranting about something (as Dan does) and said “I’m not going to do that. It’s stupid. I’ll just quit and go hike the Appalachian Trail.” I introduced myself and said I’d go with him. 17 years later, I’m on the trail and Dan is afraid of melting in the rain.
Dan and Sue have been great friends to me over the years and were very instrumental in my being here today. Without their help, I would not have been able to sell my farm, so I can cut them some slack on the bad weather. They are older than me and I know how obsessed old people can get with the weather. I’m sure they keep the weather channel on most days.
The trail was not heavily traveled today. We caught up with Vagabond Jack at Jones Waterfall (did I mention I agree with Little Blue’s mom?). These are a great set of falls well over 100’ in height. We were not expecting them to be so amazing. We sat and had a snack watching them for a while.
We didn’t catch up with Jack until we were almost to the next set of falls almost 3 miles further on. What started out to be a ho-hum walk today has presented us with two magnificent water falls with a beautiful meandering river between them. There was a great little valley with the Elk River running through it. It made me want to go tubing on the Current River back in Missouri.
Bunny and I stopped in at Mountaineer Falls Shelter to chat with Curb and Vagabond Jack while we had another snack. We contemplated staying there because it is one of the nicest shelters we have come to on the trail; it even had a bear totem to protect it (presumably that means you don’t have to hang bear bags—it might be worth the test to smear honey all over someone and tie them out to see if it works). In the end, we chose to go on to get a few miles closer to Damascus.
After about 3 more miles, Bunny gave out. Surprisingly, I was still feeling pretty good. She usually gives out just a little before me so I don’t have to say “uncle.” We set up our tent right beside a nice stream at the early hour of 5:30. We were done with all of our chores (including supper) by 7. We were just getting in the tent when Scars showed up. After 4 days of waiting, his new shoes finally arrived today. He didn’t get on the trail until 2 and has already gone 12 miles in 5 hours. We talked a bit before he pushed on. He sets daily goals and today’s goal was 13 miles, not 12.
No word on Lady Bug or Stickers. We still have 63 miles to cover in the next 4 days—a doable amount for us these days.
EFG