Date: 2015-05-06
From: elk Banner NC

To: campsite
Miles today: 17.4

Woke up this morning and Dave had a great breakfast for us. Freshly ground coffee beans made delicious coffee, he made some eggs with lots of yummy stuff in them, waffles, and a fresh fruit salad. I miss fruit so much! It is too heavy to carry so coming across it is a treat. MinD, on the trail magic on my birthday day- had fresh mangos- my favorite- and pineapple and blueberries. I am starting to think about food all the time, and I think about fruit a lot. And cheeseburgers. Dave drove us back to the trailhead, and on the way we passed a small house with lots of dogs in the yard. A guy lives there who sometimes took shots at cars if they kicked up too much dust. Dave had his back window shot out once. C.Shell and I instinctively ducked as we passed by the house.Dave dropped us off and stayed and watched and waved until we disappeared into the woods. What a really great guy. He is an accomplished cyclist and has hundreds of medals, plus a national championship jersey he won.. He could probably hike this trail no problem.The trail went through the woods a while and then came out and went over a few rolling grassy hills. There were so may wildflowers. Buttercups, dandelions, others that I don't know the names of. I admired them as they stood preening in the sun, and thought that wildflowers are the essence of innocence. They bloom, they offer beauty and nourishment to the world, they know nothing of war or hunger. When their time is done they give all that they are and all that they have back to the earth so that others can bloom after them. I kneeled on the ground and blew all the little white fluffies off of a dandelion. I made a wish that I could live up to the standards of a wildflower. As the last stubborn fluffie took flight, I made a side wish for a cheeseburger in my near future. Clearly I have a ways to go before I reach the attainment of a flower.I passed a side trail to a waterfall and I wanted to follow it and see the sights. But I didn't. I kept walking. I was feeling a bit regretful about that decision and even more so when a couple of hikers passed me and told me how spectacular it was. I decided to not make that mistake again. I'm here to see these things, but I'm starting to feel the pressure to increase my mileage. Soon I started paralleling the Elk River. It is not a big river, more like a really large creek, but it was beautiful and not too scary. It's not quite warm enough to swim yet- but the time is coming. I passed the 400 mile mark! The hike included lots of little streams and footbridges, and all in all it was a gorgeous hiking day. We hiked 17.4 miles in total, the last mile in a soaking rain. When we got to the campsite it was packed with tents- it was a pretty small site- but we set up quickly to get out of the rain.D.No had bumped into McGuyver today and learned that he he carried that dog out of the shelter, 3 miles in his arms to a road crossing. He then got a ride into town and took the dog to the humane society. When her got there, he saw the pig that had been on the mountain that we all saw. Someone had taken the pig in. I hope those animals get adopted or are reunited with their families. And McGuyver- you are a hero!