Date: 2010-08-08
From: RPH shelter

To: Jenny Road
Miles today: 15.8

8/8 2RPH shelter to Jenny Road15.8 miles plus ~2 miles roadwalkingHouseThis morning after a delicious breakfast Chris dropped me back off at RPH shelter with a lightly loaded backpack. What luxury this slackpacking is. I strolled along feeling light. At first I pushed off too hard to step up onto rocks, no longer used to stepping up unweighted. I soon fell into a nice rhythm. The miles rolled by peacefully. I noticed that my hips still hurt, however. Obviously a heavy pack isn't the only cause. At a road crossing I found the remains of fairly extensive trail magic left by Ozigal. There was still a cool juice drink left, which I drank with a couple of ibuprofen. It was a delightful surprise. It's been a long time since I saw trail magic other than water. I met Dancing Wind and Indiana slackpacking southbound. I was surprised but pleased to see them. They told me of a forest fire right before the next shelter but said the trail was open. Hmmm. Approaching that area I could smell a nasty, unpleasant smokey smell. It smelled nothing at all like a campfire. It was more like burning plastic. Soon I saw smoke rising from the ground. The duff was on fire. The AT, being more compressed, was not burning yet. I saw no firemen yet but did see a firehose laid out on the trail. It turned out the firemen were resting and waiting for water to be pumped up the mountain. I walked on, careful not to catch the hose with my poles. At the shelter I found a command center set up, but they made room for me. And offered me a tuna sandwich and chips, too. I of course accepted. After chatting with the firefighters of Beekman and Unionville and the Dutchess county sheriffs dept, I moved on. Fairly soon I came to my first possible pickup point. It was still early and I felt good so I called Chris and told him I'd meet him at the second pickup point. Then I continued, joined for a short time by an enthusiastic dog named Billy. We walked to the beautiful Nuclear Lake. I took a picture, said goodbye to Billy, and moved on quickly. I wouldn't make Chris be out too late. Oh, was I about to be mistaken about that. It was two miles to Jenny Road, so in thirty minutes I called Chris and told him I'd be there in another thirty minutes. Soon I arrived at a sign for Jenny Road. No road though. I walked a little past it, a tenth of a mile or two, then walked back. The eroded ravine near the sign had once been a road. A few decades ago maybe. I called Chris and told him I'd walk up to where the road turned into a real road. In a quarter mile it turned into am impassible dirt road. So I walked down that too. It finally dead ended into blacktop with stripes. Aha! A real road!  According to my map it was route 20. Another call to Chris and I settled down to wait. After a few more calls and more staring at the map, I thought maybe it wasn't route 20. I started walking again. Eventually I came to another intersection. This really was route 20. I had been on Blackbird Road. Stupid maps with unlabeled roads!  One last call to Chris got him on the way toward an actual identifiable intersection. At that point he'd been driving around the communities of Pawling and Wingdale for over an hour. I felt like the least competent slackpacker ever. So Chris got me back to Chez Kimball, Frannie fed me, and I plan to be unconscious very shortly. Long day. Long, long day.