Date: 2005-04-10
From: Overmountain Shelter

To: Campsite past Walnut Mt. Road
Miles today: 19.1

I woke up with a bad stomach ache, probably because of the huge meal I had last night. So what do I do? Just what any other hiker would do. Ate some more. That did the trick. Feeling better, I started up the hill. Stick started a bit before me, so I walked the first couple of miles by myself. I crossed several balds, which were really cool. This section of trail has been just beautiful. It was very windy, so I didn't linger too much. I caught Stick at the top of Hump Mountain. I hear that longhorn steer graze on Hump and Little Hump Mountains, but there were nowhere to be seen, but maybe that is a good thing. I walked with Stick after reaching the top of Hump Mountain. The walk became incredibly boring. I'm not sure if it was because of the lack of scenery or if it was just Stick's company. (Just kidding Stick) At Apple House Shelter we stopped very briefly to sign the register, and met a bunch of Scouts out on a training hike for Philmont. At the road, which was 19E, and sure enough, as Deja Vu had said, there was pop waiting in the creek. We decided to stop for lunch and enjoy a pepsi. The herd of scouts passed us and all of them missed the pop. He put it out of the way so that you would only see it if you were looking (or he told you that it was there, as he had done). After lunch, we started up the hill again. Right after the road, somebody dumped all of their trash on the trail. Stick said that the rednecks around here don't like hikers at all. He told me some stories about how sometimes they would string fishing line with hooks attached across the trail. People who parked their car at the road would return to find it trashed. Personally, I do not know how true any of this is, but knowing how some rednecks are, they would do something immature like that. Granted, they do have some reason for being mad, since the government had come in and taken some land for the trail(which I'm sure they were paid for). So they take it out on all the hikers who had nothing to do with the land acquisition. Gotta love that redneck logic. I just made sure to be a little extra alert in this area.   It had become very hot, and the walking was miserable. We walked through several pastures, dodging cowpies the whole way. The milage was off in the guidebook, so the miles seemed to just drag by. We stopped by Jones Falls for some water, pictures and to soak our weary feet. That water was ICE COLD. I could only stand it for a few seconds at a time, but it made my feet feel so much better. On our way back to the trail, we ran into Darcy, who we met a few days back and talked to her for a bit. After our break, it had cooled off a bit, but the walking was tough. Some controlled burns had been done through this area. It made the land pretty ugly (pretty ugly, haha, get it?) but it has to be done to control undergrowth. There was a campsite just past Walnut Mountain Road, which we had planned to just stop at for supper. After an extensive search for water, we made dinner and decided to call it a day. Darcy continued on to the next campsite. A little later, Steak 'n' Eggs came in, followed by Rza? and Method Man? The later two were extremely funny guys. One had a handmade banjo of some sort and played a few ad lib songs about the rigors of the trail. Our official milage is only 19 today, but we had to do over 20 with the incorrect milage in the book. Either way, I'm beat. Off to bed to dream about clean clothes, a hot shower and Arby's.