Date: 2005-05-20
From: Shelter, Jenny Knob Shelter

To: Shelter, Wapiti Shelter
Miles today: 14.2
Weather: light rain

Well another day down and we are now officially over 600 miles into the trail. Woo-Hoo!!! Today was a pretty good day for critters. Oblivious spotted an ornate box turtle on the trail. Troll and Oblivious saw an orange newt with red spots. They also saw a wild turkey cross the road. The turtle was the highlight as Oblivious actually found it. He picked it up and was really excited by the hissing sound it made as it expelled air when it withdrew into its shell. Oblivious had really been hoping to see a box turtle on this trip. The newt was caught and held and examined. The turkey just had little kid gobble noises made at it. Probably the neatest thing about today was the side trip to dismal creek falls. It was a nice not so big waterfall. The clothes came off and waterfall playing commenced. I just sat on a rock and soaked my feet. I rinsed off the sweat and salt with the COLD water. Troll and Oblivious made their way across the creek. Oblivious explored the rocks on the far side of the creek. Troll actually took the plunge in the COLD water and swam out and under the waterfall. He and Oblivious then stood on rocks in the waterfall spray for pictures. That was about the time that we discovered there was an alternate easier route to the falls from the other side. As the troll family was cavorting in their underwear, an older couple with their dog walked in from their car on the other side. They were also there to take pictures. I don't think that they were expecting to see the Trolls; I know we weren¢t expecting to see them. Last night was the 1st night we got to try out the zip together feature of our new sleeping bags. Another trail days purchase. We sent our old sleeping bags home. Our old sleeping bags (Mountainsmith vision) really sucked. They were lightweight but kept out no wind or cold. They were supposed to be 15-degree bags. HA! Our new Lafuma 50-degree bags are warmer. They actually block the wind and when zipped together I can leech Troll's excess heat. It poured last night. That always makes the trail muddier and kind of slippery. But it also makes everything smell really fresh and clean. The foliage today was definitely that bright spring green color from the crayon box. The rain caused some of the blooming trees and bushes to sprinkle their petals on the trail. I got to walk over dogwood petals, tulip tree petals and blooms, honeysuckle blooms, autumn olive blooms and miscellaneous pink and white petals. I don't think that I ever had paid attention to tulip tree petals before. The petals are a polish green with a white base. Directly above the white base is an inverted "v" of bright orange. The smells in the spring forest after a rain are so nice. I think everyone needs a nice post rain spring forest walk to clear the mind and stimulate all of the senses. We took a lunch break at a little convince store on one of the roads we crossed. We had double cheeseburgers and Cajun fries. Yum. Loads of calories. We even scored a ride back to the trail with Funky Monkey a 2000 thru hiker. I almost forgot, we crossed a really neat big suspension bridge over the creek right before we went to the convince store. Today we had issues with the wing nut book of lies and deceptions. The book said we would cross the dismal creek and the shelter would be .1 miles later. And we would cross the creek 2 more times after the shelter. Well the shelter was not .1 miles after the big Jefferson national forest sign saying dismal creek. Nor was it .1 miles after any of the 19 or more times that we crossed dismal creek. It was some where after the 20th or 25th crossing of that blasted creek. We muttered some rather interesting words about wing nut during that little jaunt. I sometimes am reminded how differently Troll, Oblivious and I look at things. We walked through some waist high grass with tall almost tree like honeysuckle bushes mixed in. I commented on the fact that I didn't like going through that grass and that I kept looking out for snakes. Oblivious said that he was looking out for snakes also. Troll said that we were looking for different reasons - me to avoid and oblivious to find. Boys. Apparently we can't have a day without random weirdness. Today while at the convince store a guy came up to us and started talking about the various plants that he gleans/poaches from the woods. He told us about his fight with a black bear over some meatloaf and so on. Random weirdness. Well take care and we will see you on the trail.