Date: 2012-06-15
From: piped spring site before Iron Mountain Shelter

To: Double Spring Shelter
Miles today: 14.4
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up feeling much better. I dreamed I was in trouble with Mr. Flynn. I think i need to go deeper in the woods! During the night, I wondered why I hurt so badly while turning over, then realized where I was. I hobbled out to use a tree. I hobbled back to my tent. When I got up, i hobbled to get water with my sheet around me it was so cold. There was a gentle rain in the early evening, but the tree cover is so thick, I did not get wet. I saw a fresh track at the water. I don't know what it was. I didn't hear anything last night except for the wind. I have interesting thought while hiking and regret I left my voice recorder at home. Today, I figured out how to use a wet wipe on both sides-one for my face and one for, well, another body part. 9:30 pm Double Springs ShelterI had a good walk in the woods today. It is interesting to see the mark of man even as the woods tries to erase the memory. An abandoned wagon road, a moss covered stone wall, a spring that has seen hundreds of years of travelers.....these things pop out at me as I make my way on the trail. i can hear the voices of the ancient ones. I can see the world form their eyes. How odd that a group of people, travelers like me, can go at hundreds of miles an hour by plane, yet we choose to walk as the ancestors did. It is the most normal activity I do. It keeps me in touch with what we really are. We have the same basic needs of those who have come before and those who will come after, no matter the technology that gets in the way of real living. My priority for the day was food. The body informed me it needed more calories. This primal need over took an desire i had to walk in the woods, instead I was searching for nourishment. My walk became more focused and i developed tunnel vision. I was so determined to hit the next road crossing that i did not check my chart to see which road I was getting on. this led me on a 4 mile road walk down a very steep road. Wh nI realized my error, I realized i would have a double road walk to fix it, mostly up hill. Spirit told me to sit down and eat at a rock that has beckoned others i am sure. Without panic, I sat down and ate some chicken salad and contemplated my next move. As I was packing up, a red jeep pulled up beside me...it had AT plates and an AT hiker sticker. Footloose took me the several miles to the town of Shady Grove. I shopped at the gas station and then he took me across the street to the restaurant. Fully resupplied, and drinking an ice cold Dr. Pepper, he took me back to the trail where i jumped off. I ate my hamburger and fries and then started walking North. I decided i could do a few more miles and get rid of the up right in front of me. The trail was supposed to be easy. A half a mile through a field that is handicap accessible, easy grade gravel track. It was the cows that scared me. The babies were coming towards me like I had food or something and the mothers were close behind. I skirted the trail by walking down the mountain convinced they wouldn't follow such a steep climb and then went around them. It was worse than facing a bear!. There were so many of them. I stopped at a place that seemed a regular stopping place through out time. Seemed to have the remnants of an old wagon road. Saw two deer, one of them at a really cool ancient site. I am convinced it is a former Native American, probably Cherokee, refuge site. I think they came to that location to get away from the settlers. I found what appears to be stone flakes and could feel the presence of the ancient ones all around. Very good, sweet water nearby.I also came across a guy on an ATV, dressed in camo and carrying a gun. He said he would not bother me. Weird. I hiked on. It sometimes better to worry about the two legged animals and not the four legged ones.