Date: 2012-06-08
From: Glasgow

To: Punchbowl Shelter
Miles today: 10.5
Weather: few clouds

We woke up to a misty morning where the moisture hung low in floating drops of vapor so big that you could see the build-up on and absorption into your clothing. Everything was still. And quiet. The rain had rinsed the town clean of all of the excitement from last night. PMo and I walked over to the Family's Inn Restaurant for breakfast with Crazy Top and King of the HIll. Semplesee decided to join us for a cup of coffee but somehow managed to order a giant breakfast as well. Sometimes it is hard to stop yourself. Sometimes it's good to just see how you feel and decide later. We filled up one of the dining rooms, hikers at the center table and our electronics charging against the walls near the outlets. Together, we easily put away 15,000 calories at that table. Full and happy, we stepped out into warm, bright sunshine. The morning had transformed! PMo, Crazy Top, and I walked over to the Post Office to check on the status of our missing packages. Crazy Top received his favorite jerky from home and was stoked. My package had arrived but PMo's had not and they were in the other town of Big Island. She gave Ken a call and he offered to wait until it did and pick them up for us and then take us to the trail. What a nice guy! She arranged it with the store receiving our maildrops and we were set to wait in town until things took care of themselves.I had been having some issues with one of my trekking poles and I decided to take advantage of my proximity to the auto parts store and see if I could fix it. It appears that to save weight, Gossamer Gear used an aluminum nut to interface with a steel bolt. This part was pretty corroded, and being soft, must have gotten damaged at some point when the threads didn't line up right. The auto parts store couldn't help me but I asked one of the construction guys working on the gas station next door if they would let me use a few of their tools. I finally got it un-bent, rethreaded, and in place so the internal mechanism would expand allowing me to use the pole without it collapsing. Sadly, the working range wasn't quite enough to be snug at the diameter that corresponds to my desired length and one pole was going to be slightly shorter than the other. I planned to call Gossamer Gear later when I have service to get a replacement part.Ken showed up with a trunk full of packages and we got our things packed up. I had a new hammock from Warbonnet that I was hoping would be more comfortable and less finicky than my current Clark. It was certainly lighter. We shipped off a box of now-redundant stuff and hopped in Ken's car for a ride back to the trailhead. Ken offered me some duct tape for my pole, which in conjunction with the slightly tighter fitting, gave me just enough friction to have it be the length I wanted.We walked up a steep, hot, dry trail to John's Hollow Shelter which was tucked away into some shady trees.   Most of the hikers from the shelter in town last night were hiding from the heat here. I took this opportunity to learn how to set up my new hammock and used PMo's phone to learn a few better knots. A slipped buntline hitch and I were going to become very well acquainted in the miles to come. Everybody slipped out after an hour and it was just me. I did a quick check around the site after packing up and found Embassador's AWOL book. I packed it out with me thinking I would bump into him at some point. I saw him at the top of the ridge leading up to Bluff Mountain in a sweet little hammock spot for one with a 180° view for at least 50 miles. He knew he had left his book. He just assumed someone would pack it up to him.I called Gossamer Gear a few minutes later when I noticed I had service. I have bought a fair amount of stuff from Glen over the years and never have had any issues. I figured that this would be a simple fix. My cell reception was bad, it was 5PM on a friday, and I probably didn't explain my issue very well. Instead of explaining the mechanism, I should have just said it was broken. We got cut off, and I called back, leaving a message. Pretty disappointing. I had little choice but to hike on. Such is life, the future is a big place.At the top of Bluff Mountain, I met up with PMo and Semplesee. I felt like I had interrupted an important conversation. I took my insecurity and stood away in the sun and wind watching the sun dip lower in the sky below us. I let the wind cool me and dry the back of my sweaty shirt and backpack.   We talked about the Ottie Cline Powell monument and some of the related ghost stories in circulation. But that energy of me not being on the same page as them remained.PMo and I headed down to Punchbowl shelter and left Semplesee to camp near the summit; he loves his sunsets and sunrises. We ate dinner with Crazy Top and King of the Hill as the orange and red light of sunset faded to darkness. We joked about taking some children's toys back up to the top of the mountain to leave around Semplesee's tent. It was a longer walk than any of us were willing to do twice and we settled in for bed.