(cont'd)  We were thrilled he was back with us (and the goodies were nice, too...thanks!!!).  We hiked to FSR 531, which was on our way, and dropped the cooler off at Randall's car.  The hike today consisted of a good degree of uphill climbing with some great views.  We continued on to our destination for the day, the trailhead at FRS 500, at the railroad.  Indeed, we did camp less than 100 feet from the tracks.  We would not rest well tonight as the trains were frequent and scheduled to blow their whistles right by our campsite.  (Of course, it was exciting...esp. waking to it at midnight.)  We had parked Coleman's car here with plenty of water, in case the creeks were dry.  We couldn't resist the urge to "cheat" and drive to Heflin (just a mere 10 mins. away) and eat at the Huddle House and gather goodies.  Hi temp mid 90s today.  Coleman was not feeling well today.  Our theory was that it was the 10 quarts of iodinated water he has drank today, maybe together with the heat.  Later on though, Coleman was able to down something from Subway and he was feeling somewhat better.  Several attempts to flatten coins on the tracks failed miserably, not being able to locate the coins after the trains passed.  (Oh well, so much for a  night's entertainment.) 

Sunday, June 28, 1998:
(Happy Birthday to me!!!  I am 31 today...YEA!!!)  We "cheated" again and Coleman went to town to get breakfast for all of us this morning.  We started hiking at 6:45 a.m.  We had an unusually rough hike today.  We only had about 8.5 miles to hike today and had dropped a considerable amount of pack weight by leaving non-essential gear (sleeping bags, etc) in Coleman's car.  But, Coleman was in recovery mode, the heat/humidity seemed higher, and my feet HURT (no blisters, just painful)!  Not to mention being kept awake most of the night by passing trains.  But, we finally made our destination, Hwy 431!!!  We finished at approx. 1:15 p.m.  Assessing our physical state at the end, we all took considerable damage from briars and such.  And, we will probably suffer greatly from the large amount of poison oak growing everywhere along the entire way. 

(This completes the third and final session of the Pinhoti hike.  Coleman and I have hiked the entire 104 mile length of the Pinhoti Trail!!!  YEEEAAAA!!!!  - Tina)