Date: 2018-06-10
From: Glasgow

To: Punchbowl shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: broken clouds

I woke up this morning well rested. Camping on grass definitely helped with the cushy sleeping area. I got up and had a lazy start to roll out of Glasgow. My stomach was feeling a bit queezy from all the Scotto's I had the night before. We wanted to get breakfast but Scotto's didn't open until 11 and it was the only restaurant in town. I went to the DG to do a quick resupply. Everything didn't look appetizing as I perused the aisles. My stomach kept acting up like it didn't want anything. It started to get hot. A few of us layed under the fiberglass dinosaur in town to escape the heat. A guy offered everyone a ride back to the trailhead. I stayed back and ordered a cold sub sandwich from Scotto's.  From town it wasn't too hard to hitch a ride back to the trail. I got a ride from Gonzo who had been shuttling hikers all day. I made it back in time to watch Theo freaking out. Rebel Yell had jumped off the bridge again and Theo went nuts. He's really protective of his people. I ate my cold sub which was a mistake before a large climb. It was a hot day too and doing a 3000 foot climb would be rough. We all got water at the next water source since there wouldn't be any on the climb for the next 8 miles. We all headed out from there around 1 pm. About a mile in I gave Theresa a call. I caught up with all the things going on in Austin. After the call my stomach started grumbling. Not just a normal grumble, but the type that wants to eject everything. I started climbing more but it was slow going with my stomach pains. After another mile I had to go! It was diarrhea and the start of Scotto's revenge. My bowls wanted to go every half a mile but I didn't want to stop that often. It made me feel weak on the climb. I eventually got to an overlook and took a break. I watched as a thunderstorm rolled in. The black clouds rolled over the valley and I could see the rain coming down. I had to go to the bathroom again up there. As I was packing up I noticed the glass over my phone's camera had cracked. It must of hit a rock while I was sitting down. It didn't seem like the crack affected picture quality but Theresa is going to send back my point and shoot in case it eventually breaks all the way. I pushed on to punchbowl shelter after that. There was some descents but not as bad as the climb.  I eventually rolled in to punchbowl shelter around 8:30 pm. Everyone was already setup and they had a fire going at the shelter. I setup my tent next to a small pond in the area. I ate some oatmeal for dinner since my stomach was still off. I used the privy at least 3 times and ran out of toilet paper. It was my first day of 4 days on the trail. I'll have to back country bidet it from here or borrow someone's toilet paper. I went back to the shelter to hang out for a little bit. My headlamp caught the glow of two eyes in the bushes. Someone got their bright headlamp out and we could clearly see that it was a raccoon. It scurried away into the forest. The log book said the coon would eat your food if you were not careful with it. We were all listening to the frogs croak in the pond. At one point they all just stopped. Then one would make a noise and they'd all start up again. Hiker midnight rolled around and everyone went to bed. Tonight I'm listening to the frogs croak and my stomach is still in turmoil from Scotto's.