Date: 2013-05-30
From: Hotel

To: campsite mile 639.2
Miles today: 9.0

There was a ton of poison ivy all along the trail. I've never seen poison ivy with 6 inch leaves before. We hiked through a residential area, between and behind someones house . We followed the white blazes across a bridge down some steps and then there were several of them in a line leading to the trail. the white blazes looked funny on the pavement all together in a line. We'd run into Slow-n-steady who was slack packing 22 miles. Whew, I was just doing an easy day in this heat. I said a quite prayer for her as she hurried on. It was going to be super hot and I don't think she'd ever done 20 miles before. Bailey and I struggled up the mtn. in the heat. She kept laying down on the trail 10 ft in front of me. She'd go when I got to her though. A guy passed and yelled at me that he was going to smack my dog if she didn't stop barking. That sure made my climb up the mtn a lot more difficult. I didn't need people threatening my dog on a day like today. I climbed up, through a field and saw a view to the left and the shelter to the right. I looked at the view real quick but was too exhausted to take any pictures. Right before Bailey and I entered the field we had to cross a stile. This was the first stile Bailey could actually cross. The steps were flat more like a staircase so I called her up and over. The stile to the shelter was the same so she just walked over it.   She looked so happy smiling ear to ear, that she could finally go over the stiles fast like me. I was just going to stay a few mins to read and sign the register but Redup showed up so we chatted and relaxed spending about 15 min there. I was fighting a migraine so I was in no hurry. We hiked on and came to a powerline which the trail normally just goes under perpendicularly, but this time went under and followed! Don't the trail maintainers know know that it might fry our brains? It was a very long stretch that was probably just 10 mins long but felt like walking in the desert. But just after a few more minutes of walking back into the forest, I heard and saw Cozy yelling out to me. She was at our campsite for the night so that meant I'd made it!Redup came shortly behind me and we wet up our tent and hammocks with out tarps and just rested for a bit. Cozy journaled, Redup knitted and I tried to journal but ended up dozing and talking to bailey. My Dad texted me some. He was also bringing a summer bag for me to switch out. I used Redups steripen to filter water for dinner. We all made dinner early around the fire ring.   Teh bugs were so bad all of a sudden so we made a fire. Cozy was watching my little alcohol stove try to boil water so she offered to help me by letting me put my pot of noodles on her stove. I normally stir in while it's cooking but I let it boil for a little bit before stirring it. By the time I took it off the stove some of the noodles had burnt to the bottom. I ate most of it sown to the charred part. I tried to clean it but it was burnt pretty bad. Oh well I'll clean it better when I get to town. cozy and Redup were going to walk down the side trail to a ledge to see the sunset I stayed and kept the fire going and Beer goddest and the guy with the huge german shepherd, Rhiner, showed up. Rhiner and Bailey met and got along fine. I was getting ready for bed but it was difficult to find a spot to go to the bathroom with all the stinging nettles and poison ivy all around . Cozy woke me up at 6 so we could get going as early as possible. I cooked oatmeal as best I could on a charred pot. Cozy and Redup and I wer the only ones up and ready early. I left camp just a few minutes after them.m