Date: 2003-08-16
From: Campsite on the trail

To: Pioneer Shelter
Miles today: 8.2

start campsite on ATdestination Telephone Pioneer ShelterThe trail today was laid out for jolly green giants and not for short sweet peas. The first thing this morning is a steep climb out of the gap where we camped last night. There are several great views today overlooking distant towns or farms. The land is checker boarded by crops ready to be harvested or already done. I am suprised that there are not any hikers out today. For a Saturday that seems strange. I do pass on southbound hiker. We speak and move on. We stop for lunch at a stream crossing. It is damp and cool. The rocks seem to draw the heat from my body. I want to take my boots off and wade in the stream, but there is a lake coming up, so I will wait. I come to a tree that has fallen across the trail. It is about four feet off of the ground. I think my legs will bend enough to let me walk under it. Do sort a like a duck walk. I squat down and try to pass under the tree. I was wrong about my legs being stronge enough to bend AND move. I am hung, like a fat plump grape on a limb. I cannot get either of my legs to move to the sides. My stance is such that I cannot even get down on all fours. Inch by inch I finally get my foot to slide until I clear the tree trunk. It seems to ake forever. Next time I will just get down on all fours and crawl under. I come to Nuclear Lake.I am hesitant to get in it, much less filter water out of it to drink. I wade out to a good size rock and sit down, dangling my feet in the water. Before long I have a dozen or so small fish nibbling at my legs and toes. I get out of the water and get some flat bread to feed the fish. Much to Mudbutt's dismay. Suddenly there are bigger fish and I enjoy feeding them. They are tame enough(if fish can be tame) that they wil eat the bread out of my hand. I am delighted. The bread didn't taste too good to me, but I didn't want to throw it out. Mudbutt insists that it is nap time, so I drag my thermarest over to the lake side and plop down next to her. It doesn't take long to get sleepy and before I know it I am sawing logs along side of her. Later, refreshed some what I head up the trail, the last 3 miles to our home for the night. There is some serious thunder over head and I rushto get my tent up before it rains. We cook dinner under the overhang of the shelter. We get lots os thunder but no rain. Off in the distance a siren wails. We both get nervous every time we hear it. We don't know whether it is a weather alarm or a emergency siren. We are too close to New York City not to be a bit worried. I brush my teeth as I wander around my tent. I spy a large whitish clob of paper looking stuff lying on the ground, 10 feet from my tent. I watch it a minute, hoping it is not what I think. Bees!!! Tiny little yellow and black fellows flying in and out. It is too dark to move my tent. I hope they mind their own business. I am sure going to mnd mine!! It is almost dark and I am in my tent. There is crackling noises around me in the woods. Something big walking around stepping on dry branches that have fallen to the ground. I can't see anything, so I turn my headlamp off and try to relax. Do bears eat larva from hives on the ground like they do a bees nest in the trees?? It is going to be a beary long nighttotal miles 8.2