Date: 2017-09-24
From: Trimpi Shelter

To: Wise Shelter
Miles today: 20.1
Weather: clear sky

Sitting at Old Orchard Shelter for lunch today, Aloha told me that he¢d ended a lunch a few days ago with a 20-minute nap. He had lain out on top of the picnic table. ¢And I woke up covered in a layer of leaves.¢ They are falling like rain and they obscure the trail more and more.I just took my own 10-minute cat nap. But there was no wind and I did not wake to find a coverlet of leaves. I have 13.5 miles done, two of today¢s three 1000-foot-plus climbs accomplished, and the place I¢m going to rest my head is less than 7 miles away.(Frodo: Not sure what I'm supposed to do with this photo, but here it is: http://www.trailjournals.com/j...)Ponies. Ponies. Last thing today I will cross into Grayson Highlands State Park where wild ponies roam. I¢ve known about Grayson for as long as I¢ve known about McAfee Knob. The landscape is supposed to be special and unique. I¢ve decided to name the ponies that will let me get close enough to take their pictures. Don¢t worry, Frodo, I won¢t get too close. I¢ll name them after the Princesses and Reuben.We¢ve been getting some rockier trail, but the last two days the water has been more reliable.My toothbrush broke. Yes, the trail must be less than spectacular here if I¢m writing about my toothbrush. But bear with me. Once upon a time, when we all had external frame packs, we took along regular toothbrushes and toothpaste. Then came ultralight. Frodo and I converted, ¢Halleluyah, amen!¢ in 2003 when we hiked the 211-mile John Muir Trail. Instead of 50 grams worth of toothbrush and toothpaste (Frodo: It was more than that!), we shared a toothbrush with no handle that you slipped over a fingertip and has two short rows of bristles. We bought it online as an ultralight toothbrush for backpacking. It weighed 2 grams and we squirted a couple of grams of toothpaste into a tiny baggie. It didn¢t work very well. Afterward we learned it was actually a dog toothbrush. That¢s the last time we¢ve gone that extreme. My present toothbrush was just a small toothbrush. I think it was out of one of the kits the airlines provide when you are stranded somewhere overnight due to a maintenance issue. It weighed maybe half as much as a regular toothbrush. I used it all of the CDT and all of the AT so far. Till yesterday. The handle broke in half. It still works, but it looks like I shortened it on purpose. http://www.trailjournals.com/j... (Frodo: You mean it makes you look like even more of a gram weenie than you already are?!)I always notice when a blown-down tree has recently been removed from the trail. Today there were wood shavings that indicated the removal was very recent and it must have been a jumble of blown-down trees. I wonder if they were victims of Hurricane Irma. Here you¢ll see how wonderfully it was cleared away and it won¢t take much imagination to picture what a mess to hike through it must have been. Thanks, trail crew!  http://www.trailjournals.com/j...Three miles before reaching the Wise Shelter, my destination, I saw one ¢ a pony. White with caramel swaths. Cute as a button and very approachable. I dub thee Catherine, after the oldest Princess. Can any other pony be that cute?Tomorrow will tell.