Bud and Vicki Hogan's 1996 Appalachian Trail Journey
May 25
Hogpen Gap to 1 mile past Blue Mt. Shelter.................................................12 miles
Got an early start again. One and a half miles later, we arrived at the shelter where Taz, Brian, Jessie and Robin had stayed. Stopped for water. What a rip-off. Brand new water purifier, $70.00, quit working. Barely a week old and it quit. I'm not a happy camper, again. Had brought some iodine pills as a backup. GOOD PLANNING. Would be using iodine for a while.
Walked a ways together up a logging road, unused for years. Nice walk. Brian lagged behind. He was complaining about not feeling well. Hope he's alright. (We heard later that he ended up having to leave the trail.) This would be the last time we saw Brian. And the last time we would see Taz......we thought.
Stopped for lunch. Tuna sandwiches, with mayonnaise. This was one of our favorite lunches on the trail. Before we left home I decided that it would be worth the extra 4 ounces to carry our bread in a plastic container. Our bread didn't get crushed in our packs and that made great sandwiches. This worked wonderfully and we would even recommend it to anyone who goes backpacking. We had also bought small mayonnaise packets from Sams Club and included them in our mail drops. This helped make perfect tuna sandwiches.
Got to Blue Mountain, the shelter was full and the extra tent sites had a father/daughter team already there with a blazing camp fire going strong. We stopped and had planned to camp there but I wasn't happy with the thought of the fire blowing sparks over our several hundred dollar tent, so we went on. This didn't make Vicki happy. Her concept was that we were to camp by the shelters. Vicki likes to make plans and stick to them. I like to view the situation and re-adjust according to the most recent information.
We hiked on, with the sun going down, and no campsites anywhere. I finally selected the flattest area that I could. Not a great place, to say the least. I spent 30 minutes trying to hang our food away from the bears. (This was a practice that would last most of the trip before being abandoned.) We were very concerned about the bears. This was where Vicki had her crisis of confidence, almost in tears, she decided that she wasn't going to complain or bind herself to an expected destination each day. She decided, with much counseling from me, that she would complete this hike, and take things as they came. Both of us were still concerned about the unknown, the animals, the snakes, the people, our own abilities, and this was a mental stress we carried that was as heavy as the weight of our packs.
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