Date: 2004-07-05
From: Buchanan Va

To: Bryant Shelter
Miles today: 5.0
Weather: scattered clouds

THIS ENTRY COVERS THE WEEK 7/4 THRU 7/11.O.K....it is Sunday July 11th. So much for my promise to keep a good journal. It is 12:45 p.m. and I am settled for the evening after 10 miles. So, today I will get caught up.July 4th. I don't remember how many miles but I ......oops, I do remember the miles. 18....we originally thought 13 but a minor math error put us to 18. I remember it being an easy 18 though. K-bear was feeling a little too good right before the Jennings creek road though and started to run. I don't know how far she got but it was just enough to turn her ankle.....again. I had fallen around the same time she did. I twisted my left foot but no biggy. I was daydreaming about swimming at the time. K-bear on the other hand was not feeling so great. We got to the bottom and were going to meet Harriette and Larry at a campground about 1.5 miles away. I decided to walk and then we could get a ride for K-bear. That was THE longest 1.5 miles I have walked.....and it was allll up. And no one was interested in giving me a ride. I guess I should have carried a pack. H and Larry wern't there so I ate some food and waited.....about an hour later I see H and she has K-bear and !one-thing in the car. Larry arrived shortly later and we decided to go back to Daleville and stay. The pool was nice.....the bath was nice and it was amazing to have a car available. Cars make things so much easier. On the fifth K-bear decided to see a Dr. Nothing was broken.....just two sprained ankles. He prescribed rest of course and another fancy ankle brace. Suprisingly, she decided to take some time off. And with that Larry and I decided to make up some miles. We spent the next two days slackpacking. 14.5 miles one day and 16 the next. I thought I only had 42 miles to make up but another error turned it into 62. So, I still have 32 miles to make up. I am past the 700 mile mark finally though. Camping and driving and driving amd camping the next couple of days.Important things. K-bears new trailname is Forrest....after Forrest Gump.....because of the ankle braces. Run Forrest Run!Larry's new trailname is Boy bait. It was Bear bait because he FINALLY can't keep up with me. He always says he isn't worried about bears because he knows he can run faster than me. Not anymore. But he was hiking with a fancy pink shirt so instead he is boy bait. So, anyone from local 94, plumbers and pipefitters.....Larry really enjoys that name.We left Jennings Creek finally. I was happy to get back on the trail. We only had 3.7 miles to hike. Larry decided to hike with me to the shelter and then walk back. We walked about ten minutes and the thunder started. It rained the entire hike. It felt great though. I would rather hike in the rain then the heat. Although I am not fond of wet boots. On the up side we slept at Bryant shelter. It was the best shelter so far. Two levels....a covered porch. It was hard to leave that one. But leave we did.Forrest and One-thing got wet stuff...including sleeping bags. I am sooo happy I use the trash compactor bags. Everything was nice and dry. Thanks Shoe! On the walk today the notable happening was a few yellowjackets. Gary got it first and then one stung Forrest right in the butt. It must be clean living that spared me. Gary says it was a swarm. I saw a few bees....nothing I would consider a swarm but it's his story. Stacey didn't have an immediate reaction to the sting.....except ouch, but a half hour later she thought she was going to pass out. She got shakey and sweaty and sat down on the trail for a few minutes. We were close to a shelter so Gary went ahead. I had not planned on stopping at the shelter because it was not right on the trail but I wanted to make sure everything was ok before I left. About five minutes later Stacey looked heaps better so I went down to get some water. I knew Gary was going to stay with her anyhow so I started walking. Lots of ups but they were not hard ups.