Date: 2017-08-15
From: Culver fire tower

To: Mohican Outdoor Center
Miles today: 19.5
Weather: light rain

Cowboy camping is the norm on trails like the PCT, and probably two thirds of my thru-hike was spent sleeping under a sky of swirling stars instead of pitching my tent. Like just about everything else on the AT, those trail rules don't apply here and so far every single night on the trail has been on some form of shelter, be it my tent, a lean to or some form of hotel or hostel.But with the spirit of optimism that worked so well for the US in Iraq, I decided that it might the first time to bring cowboy camping to the AT.The forecast was good, the landing on the fire lookout tower was off the ground and thus out of range of ticks, spiders and similar annoyances... What could go wrong?Until sunset, the mosquitoes had barely made their presence felt but as soon as the sun set, they came out in force, compelling me to don my headnet and pull the sleeping bag up to my neck. This came at a cost because it was a warm night and even in my summerweight bag, I was sweating."Maybe I should just pitch my tent," a wise voice inside my head suggested. "Nah!" replied the more common voice of laziness and misplaced optimism, thinking that the evening would cool off soon enough.After an hour of repeating the cycle of sweating in my sleeping bag and then occasionally opening it to let in cool air -- and, unfortunately, mosquitoes -- I managed to get to sleep.And then, around 10pm, the first raindrops began."Are you freaking kidding me?" I thought, with both wise and lazy voices now in a rare moment of unity.At first I ignored it (see: voices, lazy and/or unwarrantedly optimistic) but when the rain persisted, the wise voice prevailed and I went down the tower and pitched my tent.All this drama might explain why I was going a little slowly this morning.Fortunately I had a compelling goal ahead: the Mohican Outdoor Center, which offered beds, showers and -- most importantly -- a deli. The only impediment was it was a shade under 20 miles away and I knew the deli closed at 6.30pm.Everything revolved around one crucial question: Would the trail be kind or cruel today? Even with the previous evening's cowboy camping shenanigans, the prospect of a cooked meal had me heading away early. Wild, the other thru-hiker present, demonstrated the single most identifying trait found among everyone at the back of the nobo bubble: an inability to get going early. But she'd also had the brains to pitch her tent last night instead of cowboy camping, so I wasn't really in a position to pass judgement.I was hiking without poles, as is my preference in terrain not involving steep descents, which might have been crucial to unwittingly sneaking up on a young bear.It bolted from about 20 meters away, crossing the trail and then disappearing into the western side of the ridge at a pace that was astonishingly quick.Usain Bolt couldn't have outrun this bear, which I promptly dubbed Ursain Bolt(ed). I was happy to have ticked this box for charismatic megafauna, but unlike my tally of seven moose, I was more than happy not to see more than one.Soon after this encounter, the ridge gently descended to Culver's Gap then climbed back up more steeply on the far side to regain the ridgeline and continue the long traverse that had begun at the New Jersey high point two days before.I'm happy to report that the rest of the way was firmly in the kind end of the trail spectrum, rather than the cruel one, and for long stretches the trail was on old and gently-graded forestry roads. There were sections of entirely unnecessary difficulty -- of course, since this is the AT after all -- but most of these could be bypassed.Soon the Rattlesnake Swamp side trail appeared and I took it to Mohican Outdoor Center, arriving at the entirely respectable hour of 3.30pm.An hour later, I'd eaten my first copperhead sandwich (a concoction of cheese, bacon and chicken breast), was waiting to order a second shortly before the kitchen shut. I also have my hot shower and bunk room -- where I'm the sole tenant -- sorted.Do I need to say it? Life is good.AT fact of the day: Along the trail today I ran into Mooseburger, an 84-year-old who'd thru-hiked the AT in 1999 and has since been rehiking it for a month every year, with the exception of one summer when he had a hip replacement. He's done a second cumulative full hike of the AT and is well on the way to his third. Like with Grandpa the day before, I couldn't help asking why not try a different trail? He said the PCT's easy gradients meant there was no challenge to it. And there's a challenge to doing a trail you've already done twice?