Date: 2009-07-11
From: 1 mi. before Dennytown Rd

To: Morgan Stewart Shelter
Miles today: 20.8
Weather: clear sky

Around 12:30 in the morning, I heard a noise that sounded eerily like human footsteps coming near my tarp. It remained undeterred by my headlight. I have to admit that I felt a little scared. However, nothing came of it, and I was able to fall back asleep in the morning hours.      Unfortunately, my tarp does not let a lot of light in, which doesn¢t help in motivating me to get up. I stayed in my hammock until 7:12 after having bad dreams. I got going by 8:20, and reached Dennytown Rd in about half an hour. I saw the small building with the water spicket on the side that Gene had told me about and went over to fill my water bottles. There was a party of three people hanging outside a trailer, with two small dogs who kept running over to the water source. Eventually, one of them invited me over, asking me if I wanted some iced tea. I declined, but he kept insisting. Finally, he got me to take a couple of fig newtons. Then he asked if I wanted a cup of coffee. I said, no, that I already had some.However, he didn¢t seem to be able to take no for an answer! He ordered his wife to put a pot on for me. Then, he started telling me about the other hikers he had seen pass through. He told me that Kog had stayed there last night, which I was excited about, as I had been missing my group from the mayor¢s. Kog is a much faster and stronger hiker than I am, so even though he left the mayor¢s after me, I thought he would have been well ahead by now, especially with the short days I had been taking. He said that Kog had set up his tent by the side of the road, and that he convinced him to move it or he¢d be hit by a car. They took him out to the store for a six-pack and cooked him up several burgers. ¢He was walking around like this¢, imitating a staggering, gut-protruding walk. Clearly thriving on an audience, he continued to imitate all the hikers that he had seen, and tell us what he assumed to know about our trek. We were joined by Larry and Mo (Curly had gone home)- two thru-hikers from the Netherlands. They quickly joined in on the fun and were offered burgers and coffee. ¢You must have not had a burger in weeks!¢ he guessed. Larry and Mo played along with him, even though we had in no way been deprived of real food. When asked if I wanted sugar in my coffee, I declined and said I only take cream. The guy almost couldn¢t take it. ¢You need sugar! We got a 5 lb bag of sugar in there.¢ He told his lady to put some sugar in my coffee. She listened to me and didn¢t put any in.       After I finished my coffee, I left the guys and continued on. I didn¢t want a burger that early in the morning, and I knew there was a good chance that I would get one at trail magic that was going on at the RPH shelter. For once, my timing was right for this! I had seen notices since I entered the woods after the Hudson Bridge, but I didn¢t know if it was for thru-hikers. It seemed to be for trail maintenance workers. I had 10.7 miles to hike until I reached this shelter, and on the last mile or so, I came across some of the trail workers. They had just finished some stone work to help prevent erosion on the trail, and waited expectantly for me to be the first hiker to step across it. They then told me that I was just in time for lunch at the shelter! How perfect! One of the guys told me I should get water before the RPH shelter as the water was orange-colored there. He went with me down the sidetrail, and showed me where the spicket was. He wanted to collect the water for me, help me put on my backpack, and keep me company until we got to RPH. He kept talking about his recent invention- a shirt drier made of chicken wire that was molded in the form of a woman. He told me about a large pipe that was near the trail after the RPH shelter where I could bathe, and asked me if I carried most of my packweight on my hips or shoulders. I told him both, which he was happy to hear as he thinks women look much better with well-developed shoulder and back muscles. I was so relieved when I finally got to the shelter and saw Kog and Matchstick!      Kog was very surprised to see me and wondered how I could have possibly gotten behind him. He also wondered how I knew where he was! We all enjoyed a porkchop with peppers, a slice of honeydew, lemonade, and strawberry shortcake. Kog was talking about spending the night there, but I didn¢t believe him. The three of us soon got going, with Kog quickly taking the lead and Matchstick in the middle. We tried as hard as we could to keep Kog in sight for as long as possible, but when he disappeared, we suddenly relaxed and eased up. Matchstick seemed to want to hike the next 9 miles to the shelter with me. I was so used to hiking alone, that I worried about keeping up with someone else for that amount of time, and having the need to make conversation. It all worked out, however, and we rolled into the shelter to find plenty of space inside, and several hikers already set-up in their tents. With rain expected imminently, Kog, Matchstick and I decided to sleep in the shelter. As I was setting up, Bill, from the Fourth of July party showed up! He had brought his wife, Amy, on her first overnight hike since she was in middle school! She arrived with blistered feet, but in good spirits, and we had a fun night, which included roasting marshmellows for s¢mores! We finished them just before the rain began to fall and spent a cozy night under cover.