| June 09, 2005 |
| At 11:30am,
leaving Troutville and hiking 10 miles north. Right now
we are hiking on an easy part of a 2 mile trail between Rt. 20 and
Rt. 11. |
| Going through
a very hot open field up hill towards Rt. 11. I've been out on
the trail for only about 20 minutes and I'm already soaked. I
just came by an Elderberry bush loaded with bloom, make somebody a
good elderberry pie. Smells good going through here with all
the honey suckle out all over the place. |
|
We are hiking right beside I-81 and soon
we'll go under the I-81 throughway. Lot of wild strawberries
blooming and ripe, blackberries will soon be ready and saw some
raspberries starting to turn black. Simon is really getting
used to these styles and how to go over them and under them. |
|
This little woodland area is a very wet
area. The trail is taking us around the side of the mountain
so they can move us away from the high traffic area. It's kind
of pretty through here! Past Rt. 11. It took us 45
minutes to hike 2 miles. |
|
It started pouring rain coming across the
field when we crossed style. We are not only soaking wet from
perspiration, but soaking wet from the rain. Got down to a
little bridge that crosses the creek and that thing is slick, so
down I went, both feet slid out from underneath me, poles everywhere
and I couldn't get back up. I lifted my pack so I could get up
on my knees. I've got green goop all over the seat of my
pants. |
|
Between here and a little town called
Glasgow it'll take us 5 days, so we packed 5 days worth of food so
coming out of town my pack is really heavy. Yesterday, I did
buy myself a one pound sleeping bag/40 degrees so that I can send my
3.2 down/0 degrees bag back home. That did help, but it
doesn't feel any lighter today. I think most of it is food
weight right now. |
|
This is called slop swap day, where your
feet are so soaking wet that your shoes squeak with water and your
pants are so soaked with rain that they practically fall down to
your knees. Not a good way to start a 10 mile day. |
|
Going up a very steep hill on long switch backs
through a hardwood forest, fairly open. It's still raining.
I hear thunder off in the distance so I'm not taking much time to
look around to much. I can just see my feet trying to get to
the first shelter so that we can wait out the rain. That will
be Fullhardt Shelter. |
|
It's still raining and thunder storming.
The woods is beginning to get foggy now and fog up my glasses.
I can hardly see the blazes on the trees. |
|
Squish-squashing into Fullhardt know
Shelter, we've done 4 miles already. This shelter used to be a
firehouse. It's kind of unique in itself because it has a
cistern built in the 1900 to provide water source for those who kept
watch for the fires. It's the last one remaining on the AT.
The cistern is neat. It run off the roof of the shelter and
catches the water cistern and then run of the cistern to shut off
valve. That way you can get your water. |
|
Swing'n Jane and
Simon |
|
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