Date: 2014-07-05
From: Darlington Shelter

To: a shelter
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

AT day 83 Today when Jon and I woke up, kent was already gone. He must have been in a rush to get to Duncanon. Although, after arriving I think he would have rather slept in. Not that we slept late, as we were on trail by 7:20. After we got out of the woods, we walked through a beautiful open meadow with flowers all over the place. It was very pretty! Then we headed back into the Forrest for almost ten miles until we made it to town. At the top of the mountain there was a huge rock overlooking Duncanon. We stopped for a quick picture then had to descend one of the steepest downhill slopes we've had yet. It was pretty intense. There were kits if families headed up to the overlook. I kept wondering if they knew how steep the climb was. I was glad I made it down without incident. I had images of me falling head over heels right off the mountain!When we arrived we met up with kent to do our laundry. That was fun for a couple reasons. First, we hadn't had showers and there were none to be had. Second, there was no bathroom at the laundry may to change in. We held up Jon's blanket in a corner to change into our rain gear and avoid giving the cameras a show! After laundry we had pizza at a local pizzeria. It was delicious! I wrapped my last piece up in foil so I could have it for dinner later! We then walked back up the hill to where a shuttle was supposed to pick us up to take us to the grocery store. However, when we arrived at the store they told us we were supposed to let a bartender at the local hotel know that we needed a ride. Strange. The bartender had sent us up there. We were all itching to get out of town so when a normal looking guy came out of the store I asked if he was headed in the direction of the grocery store. He said he wasn't but he'd be happy to take me anyways! I quickly grabbed me wallet and told kent and Jon to text me what they wanted. When we got to the store the guy told me he'd wait for me to shop! Awesome! I got our stuff as fast as I could and returned to the parking lot where the man had in fact waited for me. I was so thankful!He dropped me back off where the boys were and we sat in the parking lot packing up our food bags. Some other hikers had come up for the shuttle too while we were packing up. But the shuttle never came so they had to walk back down into town. I felt bad for them but happy we could be in our way. As we were nearing the end of town before walking over two big bridges and into the woods again, Duke was getting so hot, he laid down in the shade in someone's yard. Luckily, the man was outside so we asked if we could use his hose to give Duke a drink and wet him down. The man happily obliged and Duke was a happy boy! Maybe three houses later, there was a group of people outside seeming to be having a party. We said hi as we passed and they came running over to us asking if we wanted any food! We were so full, but they insisted we have some cake and water so we had to be courteous and take some. I wrapped my cake up for dessert after my pizza! Finally, we were out of town and headed up a huge steep incline. It lasted over three miles and dumped us at the top of a ridge line. There were huge rocks to traverse and it got old quick. At one point we thought we only had two miles to go. But about forty minutes later we realized we still had two miles then. We were all thankful to see the sign leading to the shelter. It was in a pretty big incline so there weren't many places to tent. I opted for sleeping in the shelter with Duke, Jon slept on the picnic table and Kent tented. There was a great spring for water and bathing but it was down a steep hill about a quarter of a mile away. We had no choice but to go get it from there as we were all out. We tried to tank up as well because we knew there was no water available on trail the next day for 13 miles. That's a long way to go in the heat with no water. Once our chores were done we were hanging out by the fire when a couple showed up to stay the night too. The guy had thru hiked in 2011 and liked Duncanon so much he bought a house there! He and his girlfriend were just out for the night so we chatted with them for a while before going to bed. Overall, it was a nice day!