Date: 2016-04-02
From: Four Pines Hostel

To: War Spur Shelter
Miles today: 13.5
Weather: overcast clouds

I spent the night at Four pines Hostel last night and enjoyed talking to another northbound hiker named big cheese. He told me that he had recently done 20 or 22 miles coming into Four Pines and was complaining about the number of hills to go up and how rugged the terrain was. I dismissed his warnings since I actually like going up hills however I would find out in a few days when I hit that section exactly what he was talking about.Big cheese also shared the story of how he was stationed in Iraq and within 20 minutes from leaving at the end of his one year stay he was shot in the leg and in the arm and had suffered similar nerve damage to what I've experienced myself. It was motivating for me to see him doing so well despite his serious injuries.Eddie, the right-hand man to Joe at Four Pines Hostel, drove me back down the trail just north of the captains were I had left off hiking two days ago. I started out hiking and then quickly realized I was walking on a trail that was NOT the Appalachian Trail. I've learned to be especially careful when first starting out as it's easy to just look up, see a trail and start following it without realizing that I'm not following the white blazes. After a quick turnaround I found the right trail, crossed the road, and began hiking northward on the Appalachian Trail once again.   After hiking by myself during the morning another northbounder named Old Grouse joined me and was willing to hike with me even though I go at a much slower pace than most people. It was nice to be able to talk with someone while hiking and I learned of the many places that Old Grouse had been including Costa Rica, the Dominican republic, and various other places. He told me about two other northbounders named Otis and Mongo who he had met at the captains. It seems that there were some frozen fish there that they were going to ask the captain if it was OK for them to take along on their hike and cook tonight at the upcoming shelter. Old grouse seemed to like the idea of this as he was low on food and getting a bit hungry.When we finally got to the war spur shelter Otis and Mongo were were well underway in the cooking of their fish. They had made a large fire, cooked it down into red coals and then placed a good size rock on top of the coals followed by the first of several fish that they would be cooking. This first fish have been named "Little Jimmy" and was roasting nicely on top of the rock when the rock exploded, most likely due to some moisture inside of it. "Little Jimmy" was thrown up into the air, Mongo lept back from the fire in surprise, and Little Jimmy landed in the dirt near the fire. Mongo, who was happy that he was not injured by the exploding rock, retrieved little jimmy, cleaning him up, and shared the fish with the rest of us. The next fish to be cooked was called "the king" as he was a larger size trout. Just as the king was about done being cooked the next rock exploded as well - flinging the king about 20 feet up in the air. Mongo was actually almost able to catch him on the way down this time. Otis and Mongo make quite a pair as they thought it was hilarious that the rocks were exploding and of course Old Grouse and myself couldn't help but join in with the laughter. I cooked my usual lentils and mashed potatoes as I sat on the picnic table by the fire. As it began to get dark we were enjoying the warm evening and the nice feeling one gets while sitting by a campfire out in the wilderness. The wind started picking up and was blowing quite vigorously through the trees above us when we heard a loud crack of a branch over our heads. Suddenly, all four of us jumped up and ran into the shelter for cover. I was shouting out with glee saying "that's amazing, I haven't been able to run in three years!" Old Grouse was moaning because he had not seen the edge of the shelter in the dark and ran right into the edge of the shelter with his shins. I went to sleep as I thought about how funny Otis, Mongo, and the exploding fish were. I didn't realize at the time that the adventures with Otis and Mongo were far from over.