I woke up and saw clouds in the sky, but blue was peaking through. I don't mind walking in the rain, but I prefer sunshine.
We left the shelter at 8:20, the sun started shining through the clouds. The terrain was good to us, and we did 5.1 miles to the first shelter in 2 hours. We had snacks and read the shelter register for a while. We left the shelter and started a climb up to Clarendon Gorge Rim. Goat pointed out an airplane landing strip from the top. We saw a plane in the distance; it looked like it was headed straight for us. It made a sharp turn then dropped down towards the landing strip. The wheels hit the strip, taxied for while, then took off again. We figured he was practicing his landings.
We started our descent into Clarendon Gorge. The down was steep and banged my knees, but the area is so pretty. I hardly noticed. The bottom of the gorge had a way nice river running through it. The rocks were white and glistened in the sun. The water was so clear and inviting. We crossed the river via a suspension bridge maybe 50 feet long. When we got to the middle of it, it began swinging back and forth pretty bad. Goat got a little nervous so she hurried across. As we looked down the river we saw some guy in speedos and goggles swimming. I felt bad for laughing, but it was pretty funny. As we started up some guy stopped us. He said we looked like we were in a hurry. He said he was a trail maintaineer and there was some great swimming holes at the gorge. He also told us about "The Whistle Stop Inn" at the road crossing. He said he'd take us there if we wanted to go. We walked to the top and jumped in his truck. We ate lunch and saw Tikki at the restaurant. Goat got a a huge soft serve ice cream cone. Just as we were paying, Ernest (the maintaineer) drove up and offered to take us back to the trail.
Hiked up Clarendon Shelter, then up Beacon Hill. The terrain leveled and we picked up the pace. We hiked about 2.5 miles, I looked up an saw Tom (Papa Bear, Trail Guides father) coming down the trail. I haven't seen him since before Erwin, TN. 30 seconds later Grumpy and Miss Daisy walked up. I haven't seen them since Gatlinburg, TN. A smile instantly came across my face. We've thought about these guys for months now, and today we got to see them. We must have talked for about an hour. Tom has grown a beard, and he's thinner but looks great. Grumpy and Miss Daisy were as happy as ever. I could have talked for hours. Hopefully we'll see them in Hanover and we can have dinner together and catch up on old times.
We hiked the last 2.5 miles to Governor Cleman Shelter. Kermy, Tuna and Chef showed up and we sat around having some good conversation. This shelter is pretty dark and dirty but it's good enough. We did 21 miles yesterday, so we did an easy 15 today. Tomorrow we go into Killington, VT. I can't believe we have less than 500 miles to go.
Peace, love & cat collars...
Hipbone