Date: 2008-07-14
From: Carl Newhall Lean to

To: Cooper Brook Fall Lean to
Miles today: 18.9

Last night I was bit by a mouse. Well at least I think it was a mouse. I can't prove or disprove the theory but something did bit me. It may have be Toddy Bear I'm not sure. All I know is it hurt. It felt like being shot with a lancet 3 time rapidly. I remember it woke me up and I pulled by hand back in my sleeping bag and tucked it under my pillow. In the morning I check my thumb and a chunk of skin was missing. It wasn,t a cut but it was deep enough to draw blood. I concluded that last night I forgot to wash my hand after cleaning out my food pot. I had leftover cheese residue on my fingers enticing the mouse to chomp down. I won't do that again.It rained all night and was still raining when I woke up the first time. We all put off getting up because of the rain but inevitably we had to get up. By the time we left at 740am the rain had slowed to a drizzle. I started out with my rain jacket on but it didn't stay on long because I started to sweat.I broke the rule again today. DON'T STEP ON WET SLANTED ROOTS. It seem that my brain is working faster than my body these day. As I was trailing in the back I go to jump over a swampy area. I look to were I'm going to jump, a wet slanted root. At that point my mind says no as well as my mouth. I actually said NO out loud. My body, on autopilot, is still working on the previous order to get over the swampy trail. In mid air the body receives the order to abort but its to late. Just before I hit the root the body get the probability of falling, 95%, so I brace for impact. As soon as my foot hit the root it slid out from under me and the momentum throw me right into the bushes on the edge of the trail. Yeti and Toddy Bear had front row seat because of my advanced warning. I wasn't hurt but I was a little pissed. The guys had a good laugh. There weren't any views this morning because of fog and trees. The climb up White Cap Mtn was heart pumping. It was slightly windy up there but mostly foggy. We had lunch at Logan Brook Lean. We met 4 young Sobo's, probably just out of high school. They seem to have tons of energy and really into making weapons out of wood. They had spears, bow and arrow, and a sword. It seems to me they have to much time on there hand and maybe they should hike more mile to burn off all that energy. We also met 2 NoBo's, Liv and Hilary. They are doing the last 80 miles of the trail. They gave us some hummus and crackers.After lunch we came across the first ford of the day. Liv and Hilary were there trying hard not to fall in. They were straddled on some big rock trying to get across. We skipped across the rocks like there wasn't any water there and got to the other side dry as a bone. I sat there for a minutes watching them try to cross. Like a train wreck I was transfixed. The guys said we had to go and I realized it was kind of rude standing there waiting for them to fall in.We blazed through the trail and made it to the shelter early. There was a SoBo there but he was tenting. The shelter was really nice with a big stream down in front. Bugs weren,t to bad and the privy was the cleanest I have ever seen. Liv and Hilary made it to the shelter a couple hours later. They made it over without falling in. They were really nice and shared there food with us. We got some black bean soup, tortillas, hot chocolate, and veggie chips.I can't believe we are 3 days away from summit. 60 miles to go.