Date: 2006-10-12
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 20.0
Weather: scattered clouds

Day 133 (Thursday)Up @ 7:30 - Breakfast -oatbran & hot apple cider. On trail last @ 9:30. Easy hiking past several roads in the National Recreation area, reached Hurricane shelter @ 2pm & noted Tentpole had stopped in. Passed 2 northbound section hikers one of whom asked if there was any camping or water between there & Hurricane shelter, which was 2mi away at that point (his buddy was hurting). I said not really, forgetting about a campsite about 1/4 mi S. of the shelter. Passed 2 guys dressed in long pants & heavy sweatshirts who said I must be Book & that they had ran across Tentpole @ Orchard Shelter 1/2 hr ago. I found out from the register that they are known as the overhill packers, Bear & Grizzle. Orchard Shelter was very nice & overlooked an open field. It was crisp & breezy @ 4pm when I got there. Tentpole noted in the log he might hike to Thomas Knob (25mi total) instead of staying at Wise Shelter (20 mi), our original target for the day. (Reils went into Troutdale w/ his sister). Saw 3 deer next to the shelter as I went to get water & picked up a mylar "get well" balloon in the woods just past the shelter, intending to pack it out. Walked about 200 yds w/ it when I met a group of 5 kids on fall break & gave it to them. (They didn't really want it, but were willing to pack it out for me - it was actually pretty annoying to hike with.) They mentioned that Wise shelter was pretty crowded. I hiked on at a pace to keep the option of pushing on to Thomas Knob open, passing some great open views & a tent tucked into some rocks on Pine Mtn. Passed as area known as "the scales" w/ some trailers of ranchers who graze their cattle on the highland & tents of some kids I assumed were scouts. I hiked fast across the area to keep warm (it was in the low 40's & windy and I was still in shorts & a T-shirt). Arrived @ Wise shelter @ 6:30 after passing a few more tents & being careful to keep my feet dry on some muddy stream crossings. Found 5 people w/ a fire going; they made space for me & I decided to stay. (Not easy to pass up a fire @ 6:30 when the temp is quickly dropping.) In camp were 4 section hikers from the Sierra Club in Cincinatti, OH (3 guys & a woman w/ a dog) & a yo-yo hiker named Leprechaun from Alaska who was hiking south after finishing a northbound thru-hike earlier in the year (a claim I was skeptical of at first based on his Cabella's type equipment including 3/4 length peacoat, but soon came to believe). Dinner - Turkey Divan. In bed 8pm & listened to the Sierra Club guys tell stories for about an hour. Nice people, but the only food I managed to yogi was 1 dried date :-(.P.S. Evening temp dropped below freezing & I quickly changed into all my cold weather gear after reaching camp. There were a few snow flurries & coyotes howling. The woman from Cincinatti said I must have really good circulation to be hiking in shorts & a T shirt. Discussing the policies of the Sierra Club that night, I asked one of the guys what the mission of the Sierra Club was & 2 of them responeded, "To explore, enjoy & protect America's natural heritage" after which the first guy said, "I focus mainly on the exploration & enjoyment & let other people focus on the protection."