Date: 2023-07-06
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Miles today: 8.6

Day 12 -  Hitting 100 Miles!Today he hiked 8.6 miles. A pretty easy mileage day but it allowed us to end up at the nicest shelter area we¢ve seen yet around 3:30pm and have some time to rest. So last night as I was journaling I was being invaded by daddy long leg spiders crawling over me.  I tried hiding in my sleeping bag for awhile but they still found me.  I kept checking on the kids with my headlamp but saw no spiders on them.  Maybe I was sleeping right on their spidery highway?  I decided to get up around 10:30pm and setup both tents, alone, in the dark. There are notices posted all around this shelter about the increased bear activity. While setting up the tents I kept looking over my shoulder and wishing my headlamp beam could penetrate further into the oily blackness as I imagined a bear emerging from the shadows and sneaking up behind me. I quickly got the tents up.  And headed back for Erin and the kids. I carried our sleeping daughter to the tent and zipped her up. I went back for the next and Erin had woken up and asked what I was doing?  I explained that there were spiders everywhere and they were attacking me. She shined her headlamp and said ¢where¢?  I felt like a crazy person as I looked around, seeing none, and replied ¢they were here just a minute ago.¢  Her look seemed to be saying ¢I¢m sure they were sweetheart, now why don¢t you go back to sleep, it was just a bad dream¢. At this point though I had just set up two tents in a dark forest by myself AND carried one sleeping child with bedding out there. I pleaded with Erin to join me and help me get the other kids. She just yawned and turned over and went back to sleep.  So I crawled into the tent with my daughter and slept a fitful night dreaming of spiders. After a rough nights sleep with some of us in a tent and some in a shelter, we awoke to find overcast skies.  Soon after a steady rain began to fall so we had a bit of a rain delay getting onto the trail. We hiked in light rain most of the morning but no one seemed to mind. It was chilly and damp but the hiking kept us warm enough.  We hit one section of trail that was so overgrown we thought we¢d lost our way. It was so itchy walking through the waist high plants as they brushed over our wet legs. Finally the trail opened up and we had some of our widest pathways yet. You could even walk two abreast.  One thing about the AT is it¢s so much forest that it can feel claustrophobic. I love being in the woods, but endless woods takes some getting used to. We came upon one of the first truly spectacular vistas this morning and the kids were spell bound. A rocky outcrop allowed us to gaze out over 50 miles of mountaintops all poking through a sea of clouds like islands in a white sea down below us. The latter morning hike was very pleasant and including our steepest section yet with stairs cut into the stone and a rope handrail. At the top was Mt Albert and the reward from the fire tower on top should have been 360* views. The clouds had surrounded us though and all we could see was a white mist.  Also adding to the disappointment was the fact that after climbing all the steps of the fire lookout tower, the trap door leading to the top was locked. No way to get on the top deck and no view was disappointing. Our daughter and middle son cried. They had climbed several miles to get there and hoped for more view. A sign was posted saying the top deck was locked to prevent vandalism. Our daughter asked what ¢vandalism¢ means. We said it¢s when people break things or spray paint someone¢s property. Our youngest son innocently asked ¢Daddy, can¢t they just put a sign saying don¢t spray paint¢.  We told him not everyone minds very well :)Then he suggested that since it was a fire tower and I had been a fire fighter, I should call them and they¢ll give me the key. Our kids REALLY wanted on top of that tower. They had to settle for lunch under the tower structure, keeping us dry from rain. We enjoyed a lunch of tuna along with crackers spread with peanut butter topped with peanut butter M&M¢s.  Classic hiker fare.  I contemplated putting the peanut butter and M&M¢s IN the Tuna for a hiker trifecta but resisted the urge. We¢re not that desperate¢¦yet. Shortly after lunch we hit the 100 AT mile mark which someone had commemorated with a ¢100¢ written with sticks on the side of the trail.  It¢s difficult to believe we¢ve walked over 100 miles together as a family.  We arrived at a shelter around 3:30pm. The best one yet. It looked like a Acosta Rica yoga retreat center (at least to us after hiking three days). We had a wonderful evening bathing in the nearby creek, cooking, playing Spades and settling in for a near perfect evening watching the sky grow dark as sleep overtook us.