Date: 2008-07-10
From: Corn Crib Plantation

To: Shaker Campsite
Miles today: 17.7
Weather: clear sky

Hiking for fun and enjoymentCorn Crib / US7 to Shaker Campsite 17.7 Miles I got up late as usual and didn¢t get on the trail until about 9:30 or something like that. Corn Crib was cool; I got to take a shower and charge everything for free. The price of soda and ice cream was a little exorbitant; however, I got to take a shower, hitch into town, charge everything, refill with good water all for free so it was definitely worth it. The climb out was rough but it was very windy and dry so the bugs were not killing me (until later)Shakedown took off way early and by the time I got out of my hammock even the scarlet five were gone. Bruhawk and Magnus were there and a few other left their packs cause they went into town for breakfast or something. I climbed up to Tom Leonard Lean-to and decided to start a fire and cook some lunch for a change. I normally just eat trail mix all day but I figured what the hell. I got into my crocs and wennt down this huge ravine into ¢Ice Gulch¢ to get my water. I had also started a little fire to repel the mosquitoes that had been buggin¢ me as the day went on. I like to make a nice smoky fire at first and let them know I mean business and they generally go away after that. Every once in a while you have to throw something wet or green on there to smoke it up some more and drive them away. When I got back from getting the water I noticed there were a bunch of people doing something in the woods near the shelter and it turned out to be a volunteer crew of 16 year olds who were working for the ATC for a week, just camping and fixing trails and stuff. I thought that was so cool! I was running a little late but the day was turning out to be a perfect day for hiking. Brisk wind and hot sun keep the bugs away and since you are mostly in the trees you stay pretty cool. I wish they were all like this. When I left in the morning I had two foot issues; my left big toe has something infected, probably from the pounding it takes when I don¢t lift my foot high enough and kick boulders, so I squeezed it out and sanitized it. That was a little sore. My right foot had gotten a mosquito bite on the top of my foot and from it being raised and all of the rubbing from the boots, it had my whole top of my foot ripped open so I sanitized that too while I laid my socks in the sun to dry. My Gregory Pack has broken again; but I love this pack, even though it¢s broken twice I have to say I would still get another one (and I am) because I figured out a way to keep it from breaking again and even broken, it still works and that is the essence of BrotherPROOF. If you can break something but it still works, then it¢s still BrotherPROOF. Granted, it doesn¢t work as well as it did before but it didn¢t leave me stranded out there with no hips strap. I talked to the pro deal guy, George and offered a suggestion of how to keep this from happening and we¢ll see if it works. The Whitney pack is a really well designed pack and it¢s so comfortable for someone like me who is carrying a lot of weight. Part of the problem is that I have gotten a lot skinnier on this trip and I have to crank the hip belt way down, probably tighter than it is meant to go. Anyway, I got back on the trail and I was intending to do a bunch of miles but it looked like I was gong to run out of time. I decided on a campsite and I got there when it was still light out. There was a fire smoldering and a guy all wrapped in blankets on a tent platform and I though tit might be Windjammer so I said, ¢Hey Dave is that you?¢ There was no response from the pile of Mexican blanket and so I went about setting up and stoking the fire. You would not believe the kind of Kamikaze Mosquitoes they had there. I didn¢t realize it but there was a lot of water nearby and these guys were hungry and not playing any games. They came flying right in and had their proboscises planted even before they had a foothold. They just came diving right in and even had the balls to bit my fingers! It was crazy, The bundle of blankets finally rustled and out came Moses, whose name was also Dave. He kind of looked like an old Indian with gray hair put up in two braids and a kind of handlebar mustache. You could tell he wasn¢t a thru-hiker ¢cause he had a mixture of cumbersome gear like a regular school backpack and a jigsaw and a blanket instead of a sleeping bag. I was assuming he was a homeless guy on the trail. You see a few of those guys just eating stuff they find and hiking randomly from place to place, sometimes hitchhiking and sometimes walking. I was a little worried cause you never know what kind of people you will meet out here. It turned out that he was pretty cool; on sabbatical from a construction job, he decided he¢d walk home¢¦ to Missouri. Wow! Anyway, he had a lot of questions about thru-hiking and we talked all night. I gave him my map because I would only have needed that section for another day anyway and he didn¢t have anything for the southbound trip. I supped and set up and finally got to bed. I was hoping to get up early tomorrow and hike a long day but I think we all know what¢s really going to happen. I¢ll be in camp until noon probably.David AKA ¢Mister Gentle Spirit¢ Website http://www.wbafinc.org Photos: http://www.photobucket.com/brotherproofVideos: http://www.youtube.com/WBAF1