We had several accomplishments and amazing events today, not the least of which is that we were the first ones packed up and out of the shelter. Granted, it wasn’t an early time (8:20), but we were first! Dirty R and Grape Stomper were almost ready, but hiding their food helped to slow them down. Lucky 59 and Pepper Pot got rained on and muddled up the night previous night and had to clean up their tent so they were never in contention (not that anyone other than me knew it was a competition—those are the easiest to win).
Another major event was that we have officially entered the top 75% of through hikers this year. Yes, we have successfully hiked out of Georgia and are still on the trail. 25% will fall by the wayside before reaching this point.
Not too far after entering North Carolina, we found another hiker sleeping on the side of the trail. Yes, it was a beautiful day; the temperature got all the way up to 75F and we had sun shine and blue skies all afternoon. Lion King has thru—hiked the AT three times so he just hikes the sections he likes. He has no pressure to complete the trail, so if he feels like resting, he does. That’s hiking experience. and ease.
It took us 10 days to hike the 77.9 miles of Georgia AT and another day to hike 7.8 miles of the approach trail. We had no major incidents or injuries. I would have liked to go a little faster, but Bunny Tracks keeps riding the breaks to keep me in line so we go slower and don’t injure ourselves (at least she claims that’s the reason she’s behind me whining and complaining so much). Our only goal is to make it to Fontana Dam by next Friday to meet Pam and Joyce who are going to hike the Smokies with us. We will not try to do any long days until after we get through Hot Springs, NC—that will put us in the 95% successful category for our age group.
We kept leapfrogging with Dirty R and Grape Stomper all day with them getting to the shelter about an hour ahead of us. Our bodies kind of rebelled the last 3 miles. This was our longest day to date and our first 12+ mile day. We will take a lighter day tomorrow to allow our complaining bodies to recover.
I did manage to answer an age old question while in Georgia—If a tree falls in the woods and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? It was a very foggy day about a week ago and, surprisingly, Bunny was way behind. I was standing in the mist and fog having a religious moment expecting something momentous to happen. After about 5 minutes the forest had forgotten I was even there. That was when I heard the crack of the tree. It didn’t make the “whoosh baaaam” that you would expect, but it did make a noise. I distinctly heard “this suucks”. It’s comforting to know trees feel the same way about old age that we do.
Overhill and Steady Eddy both passed us while hiking, and with gusto. I wish we could hike that fast—maybe in time, but we are more than twice their ages, so doubtful. Overhill was at the shelter when we got there and we talked with him quite a bit last night about hiking experiences. He has already done the PCT and travels significantly lighter than we do.
When you are hiking all day, you have a lot of time to kill with your mind. I’m not one to brag, but I have solved all of the world’s problems several times over. But when you have the chance to spend time hiking, why would you want to get into politics to implement the solutions. Everyone will just have to suffer through until our legs are done.
EFG
Okay…again a memorable location, but not the same tiny shelter I remember. My brother spent the most stormy night I ever experienced on the trail there. (Is the shelter still located right by a brook?) Thunder and lightning and torrential rains all night long. By morning the brook was flooding, surrounding the shelter. We found out later that we had been in the middle of the 1974 tornado Super Outbreak, which was the largest 24 hour outbreak ever until the 2011 outbreak (which, ironically, Marcia and I were in the midst of while visiting her sister in northwest Georgia).
The other thing I remember about that shelter was the skunk that came into the shelter and was crawling around on my sleeping bag with me in it.
This is bringing back memories!
The water at Standing Indian is about 100 yards lower than the shelter now. As far as skunk smells go; how do you distinguish from thru-hikers?