Date: 2005-06-06
From: Buena Vista

To: Campsite at North Fork of Piney River
Miles today: 12.1

The first thing we do is take our tents down in the morning so we won't be tempted to stay here. It's still really hot so nobody feels like hiking. The pool is where it's at. We have to walk up a hill first though. When we see the enticing water of the pool we are so excited... too bad the pool doesn't open til noon. It's ten now. Grumble, grumble...We leave our packs at the pool and head back to town. I guess it's food first then swimming. Too bad the town is so spread out. It's still walkable distances but it's hot hot hot and I haven't had much breakfast. Feeling very weak I finally make it to the Chinese restaurant. We've made a quick stop at the bakery. See, I forgot to mention this but at the Laundromat yesterday we met a woman who offered us leftovers from her bakery. She enlightened us about the campground and brought us cookies and pastries there. So cool! When the guys saw their bakery they walked over to chat. The owner promptly offered us a ride back to the trail. Awesome! Now we have a garanteed ride and a time limit for our town stay.The chinese food is really good and reenergized we walk back to the pool. Gypsie Lulu prefers to stay at the library but the rest of us mingles with the local teenagers at the diving board. Touk does some really impressive manoeuvers from it. I just make a big splash. The pool is so much fun!When it is time to leave we all have a hard time but it has to be done. We have a short ice cream break at the bottom of the hill. We talk to some women who are very impressed with our hike. Always fun to talk to people who don't know anything about the AT.Back at the bakery Stilts, Lulu and I buy some excellent cookies and then we're off. If you're ever in Buena Vista stop at the bakery and coffee house. They've just opened, have great tasting goodies and are really nice!It's so nice not having to hitch. Back at the trailhead we meet up with Spruce, Moose, Miss Mileage and Piker. How fun! We also get a visit from a local who I can hardly understand and who talks about getting a mail order bride. After we give him a beer that Squid Jerky has left as trailmagic he finally leaves.When we're about ready to leave Hopper comes driving up. She and her husband are slacking each other and she is here to pick up her husband. When she gets out of the car though we notice she's injured. Sad news, something in her calf has popped and she can't walk comfortably. I hope she'll recover soon.When Bassline and Touk arrive (the car wasn't big enough for all of us at once) we're finally ready to go start our horrible climb. Except that Touk left her water in the car. Duh!The problem seems to get resolved though and I decide to start hiking. They'll catch up soon. Sure enough Stilts passes me within a couple of minutes. The rest doesn't so I'm assuming that they have taken a food break at the road or they passed while a was a peein'. The climb isn't too bad and the open fields on top offer great views. I do really need to eat something because I'm feeling low on energy again. I'm glad when I meet Stilts at Hogpen Gap and we cook dinner. My snacks weren't doing enough for me. The group we met at the road is camped here but we're planning on doing some night hiking. The temperature is great now and there shouldn't be much more climbing. We're surprised the other three haven't shown up yet. Another hiker arrives and he tell us that they stopped at the shelter. What? A four mile day? Oh well...Stilts and I have a good time with the night hike and set up camp near a nice water source. Right on target to hit the free lunch at the Dutch Haus tomorrow.