Date: 2008-04-17
From: Big Butt

To: Hogback Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 12.8
Weather: clear sky

It was absolutely another beautiful day. Our second night of cowboy camping went swell. Or, maybe less than swell, compared to our previous night. When I mentioned yesterday that I refused to hike another step -- I really meant it. I laid out my sleeping gear with my feet grazing the edge of trail. And, I woke up with my feet laying across the trail. My grand idea of sleeping on an upward slope failed to consider the lack of friction between my sleeping bag and my sleeping mat. I fought most of the night to stay in place only to give up with the passing hours. I awoke to several hikers (who were up and hiking WAY too early...) who literally had to step over me to make their way along the trail. But, one of these hikers was Leaping Turtle. Lesson number 464 on the trail: Don't make bets with other hikers. In particular, the ones that involve racing! Yep, as always, I was goaded into a friendly wager. However, in my defense, this was prior to my ailments. But, feeling ill is little excuse for not following through. So, Leaping Turtle passed us that very morning as we slept. On the trail. And, of course, this bothered me for the duration of the day because had we been feeling our best he would have never caught up to us... even doing 20 some odd miles in a day... So, with his passing, it certainly felt like it was time to pack up camp and make haste down the trail to catch the turtle. Of course, this may have required moving faster than I typically do. But, we did catch him while he was lounging in a field (given another mile, I would have caught him whether he was lounging or not...). But, of course, that wasn't good enough either. We needed to put some distance between us, as well. So, the brutal pace never really stopped. Oh, lesson number 546: When passing an optimal water source, fill up! We passed a great water source (water fall included) right before we started to make a substantial climb. Of course, Sauerkraut and I were both half full so we took pictures and moved along. Well, the climb was a little more intense than we had first assessed... our water was gone within the first couple hundred feet... we proceeded the next 6 miles to the shelter without much more than a drop of water and no one to blame but ourselves. It was all uphill, too. On a good note (i think), we caught up to Dirt who was wasting away on the side of the trail not doing much of this hiking thing we try to cram in every day. So, it was all rather exciting. Of course, just to make sure the lessons of the day were well engrained -- Leaping Turtle made his way into camp not too long after us and then left at 3 in the morning to hike even further ahead of us AND the water source at the shelter was a grueling 0.3 mile trek (uphill both ways) each way. Lessons learned. On a good note, lots of great company at the shelter. I met Lotus today. I read her trail journal before coming out on the trail. She is awesome because she is overcoming a lot to be out here. AND, I finished reading Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone today. Just upset that I can't get my hands on the second book soon enough. I have neither read the books nor seen any of the movies so it is a whole new magical world to me. Dave rocks (he is the one that gave me the first book). Now, I guess I have to go to sleep.