Date: 2017-08-13
From: Windsor Furnace Shelter

To: Rock and Sole Hostel
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: broken clouds

¢6¢ The countdown begins. Frodo boards a plane on Thursday morning and I¢ll see her on Friday morning.7:00 am. I slept in. I don¢t think I¢ve ever slept this late on the AT. I just now sat up and started packing. But Port Clinton is 4.7 miles away, the trail goes right through it, and there¢s no reason to arrive before 10:00 when businesses open. At least I hope they¢re open on a Sunday morning.I just passed the perfect ¢pocket¢ campsite; everything there in a 20-foot circle. It was one of those ¢Bill Gates assignment to his assistant¢ moments. ¢Build me the ideal tiny campsite.¢ At mile 969.2, 3 miles before Port Clinton, there it was, almost right next to the trail so Bill wouldn¢t have too walk far.  A well-laid-out rock fire ring, a flat tent site. ¢And by the way,¢ Bill says, ¢have a small gurgling stream run right through it, between the tent site and campfire. But not too wide so I can easily step over it.¢ Yep, that¢s what bisected the perfect spot of heaven on the AT.¢¦. Stay in a motel? On the first night in 2.5 weeks since I¢ve seen my bride? Come off trail a short ways instead of cramming into our tent? No brainer, right? (Frodo: I made the request more so he would have a chance to take a shower!)For this Friday night it is. Done. But 10 years ago we had our first night together on our PCT thru-hike and we¢d been separated a few days before then. (Frodo: We started a few days apart, since I felt the need to go back and teach for a last few days to prepare my students for the AP Biology exam.) It was early May, storming with gale-force wind gusts. We were in a tarptent that barely kept out the rain. A few hundred yards away we knew there were cozy cabins available, there at 6,000 feet in Mt. Laguna. I mentioned something about the cabins and Frodo said, ¢I would be so not opposed to that!¢ I thought she was joking and chuckled, though she couldn¢t hear it over the wind. Boy, was I obtuse. It was still so cold and windy the next morning that we made breakfast in the campground bathroom. That¢s when she told me she¢d been serious. Oops.Today was great hiking. A few rocky-ish sections, one long drop into Port Clinton (where the trail went right through the canal town founded in the early 1800s), then a 1000-foot steep climb and easy sailing for 15 miles the rest of the day.But does a fat ¢I own the trail¢ rattlesnake count as easy sailing? The day hiker following behind me didn¢t think so, but I whipped out the phone and caught this video. https://www.facebook.com/barne...  And here¢s a photo:  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...I¢d written yesterday¢s paragraph about fires on the trail early this morning, actually. And wouldn¢t you know, this afternoon I walked through my first prescribed (planned and man-made) burn alongside two miles of trail. The understory was all burned out, but the large trees were unscathed except for mild charring on their trunks. The state game department does these burns to promote deer forage.I have to show you the photo of my 15-minute wide-eyed foray into Port Clinton¢s one open business, a peanut and candy store: (Frodo: Scout confessed to me that he spent almost $20 on candy there.)  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Tonight I am in the Rock & Sole Hostel. I¢m showered and well fed, even though I didn¢t get in until 7:00 pm.http://www.trailjournals.com/j...