Date: 2009-05-22
From: Campsite past Vandeventer Shelter

To: Campsite past Abingdon Shelter
Miles today: 24.6
Weather: clear sky

Today was the biggest day yet out on the AT: a whopping 24.6 miles. Actually, considering the ¢relatively¢ easy terrain, we probably could have pushed on much more. We just walked on a ridge for miles and miles. There was nothing all too exciting today, so I¢ll save the drama for another day. I did meet a really nice thru-hiker named Jungli. She is Indian, originally from the East Coast, and most recently completed her master¢s program at Arizona State University. Her name Jungli is, I believe as she explained it, from the Hindi language meaning rough, dirty, somewhat skanky. It is more of a derogatory term, but hikers have no idea about what it really means. We would just associate it with ¢the jungle¢. Like the rest of us, but more so because she comes from a traditional Indian family, her friends and family think that she is a bit nuts for attempting a thru-hike of nearly six months out in the woods. I think that there are a lot of people that believe us to be of a crazy sort. Maybe to some degree¢¦we are. We had two trail magic points today. The first of which contained yogurt, danishes, and Gatorade. It was delightful. In playing a few tricks on our fellow hikers, Scavenger and I compiled a small note in the trail magic registry first thanking Denver Dave and then saying that we hope fellow hikers have the chance to enjoy the wonderful picnic table with freshly squeezed orange juice, organic granola, chicken Caesar salad, and assortment of fresh tropical fruits. Obviously, there was none there, but our intention was to think that we had been lucky to have stumbled across such a trail magic discovery. Gaucha and others found it to be amusing upon coming across the note. The second trail magic had a mango, an orange, cookies, and Yoohoo chocolate milk. Both were terrific and very much appreciated. After we crossed TN 91, we came across two middle-aged men and an old boy driving an H2 Hummer. One explained that all of them were divorcees and that they had just moved to the area and were out on a country drive to explore. When they asked from where we were coming, they were completely shocked when we replied ¢Georgia¢. The funniest part of the conversation was when we had to introduce ourselves and we always reply with our trail names ¢ not our real names. When Scavenger introduced himself as Scavenger, they began to look quite strangely at us. He followed up by stating that this was his trail name and they, in turn, looked at as even more strangely. ¢Trail name?¢ they asked inquisitively. We proceeded to explain about life out on the trail, but I really didn¢t think that they understood what the hell we were talking about. They wished us good luck and we headed on our merry way. They were good folks.The next two miles after Tennessee 91 were just marvelous. I¢m guessing that it was private land of some sort, as it had abandoned barns and ancient farm equipment all around us. The pathway was almost entirely gravel, until we reached a point that turned into grass. Some other day hikers were out to enjoy the beautiful morning and we were more than happy to share the terrain. In the grassy area, wildflowers were spread throughout the rolling hills. Each few meters of walking would create a new vista point and we stopped occasionally to pinch ourselves and comment on the scenery. By 6:30 pm, we made it to Abingdon Gap Shelter, but we had run out of water and were largely dehydrated. The water source at the shelter was a bit far and straight down, so we opted to just keep going. BAD IDEA. We went another four miles or so and didn¢t pass any water, so Scavenger decided to set up camp. When I had arrived thirsty as hell, he said that he just found out by another hiker that there were no water sources between the shelter and Damascus. We were just completely screwed. I wanted to push on to a water source, but figured that it might be best to just get on with it in the morning ¢ despite being so incredibly dehydrated. That evening, we went without water and, subsequently, without any cooked food. We did find a can of sardines in mustard sauce at the previous shelter, which we shared and attempted to slurp up any of the mustard sauce just to get some liquid in us. I don¢t think that it helped too well and mustard is, potentially, a diuretic. The wind was blowing so much that the tarp tent that we were sharing constantly smacked me in the face throughout the night.