Date: 2016-05-19
From: War Spur Shelter

To: Niday Shelter
Miles today: 18.2
Weather: light rain

Day 69The climb up to Kelly Knob was brutal this morning. I climbed nearly 2000 feet over a little more than 2 miles. It wasn't raining, but the terrain was muddy from all the previous rain, and the vegetation I frequently brush up against was wet. All that plus the humidity and my profuse sweating led to one soaked, muddy hiker by 9 a.m. As I guzzled a full liter of water and caught my breath at the summit, two deer darted by off to my right, a small reward for a tough start to the day.At mile 676.3 I passed Keffer Oak, an 18' around, 300-year-old oak tree. It's the largest AT oak tree in the South, with Dover Oak along the AT in New York being slightly larger. I thought to myself, if that 300-year-old tree could talk...well, that'd be really weird.A little while later, on a rock scramble near Sarver Hollow Shelter, I met a hiker named Crisco. Before starting the AT, most hikers are aware that it's not possible to replenish the 5000-6000 calories you burn on a typical day. It's simply tough to carry that much food because food is heavy. Well, Crisco took that as a challenge and began the trail carrying and consuming pure Crisco vegetable shortening which provides 110 calories of pure fat per tablespoon eaten. Thus, the trail name. So if he carries and consumes three cups of Crisco, he's getting...well, I really don't want to do that math.At mile 682.3, the north end of the ridge crest on Sinking Creek Mountain, I arrived at a sign marking the Eastern Continental Divide. Curious, I decided to conduct an experiment by relieving myself on a large boulder near the sign. Sure enough, the flow went evenly in each direction down the sides of the boulder. I plan to contact a scientific journal in order to publish my findings. If they like my work, I may replicate the experiment on the Runaway Mine Train at Six Flags.I finished this 18.2 mile day sleeping in the Niday Shelter at mile 685. Joining me in and around the shelter were several hikers, including Tennessee Troy, Little Bear, Patrice, Crisco, Sprinkle Toes, ETA, Future Dad, and White Owl. We covered a lot of ground in the camp conversation that evening. First, Little Bear, who you may recall is helping Lindsay and Patrice film a movie/documentary about women thru-hikers, informed me that Lindsay had to get off the trail to have surgery. She hopes to return and will continue with film editing and such while she recovers.As for Sprinkle Toes, she earned that name during a cold, very windy afternoon in the Smokies. As she relieved herself behind a tree, she didn't realize the wind was blowing her pee all over her left shoe and sock. She ended up with a pee-soaked sock and a trail name.And that brings us to the fascinating, 70-year-old White Owl from Maine. We immediately hit it off and began trading stories. He has a great sense of humor and looks like my Uncle Phil's twin brother. He recently saw two crawdads trying to eat a fish that was being digested by a snake. That's awesome! He shared a picture he snapped after the crawdads scurried away. We also traded vasectomy and colonoscopy stories, much to the delight of the younger hikers around us who are just a few years removed from puberty. I don't remember all the details from his colonoscopy story (a good thing) but his last sentence was, "And then, after raising my bare butt up in the air, the nurse looked at me and said, 'That's where I remember you from!'"Fob