Date: 2010-06-02
From: Wild Cat Trail Campground

To: Pinefield Hut
Miles today: 19.7
Weather: few clouds

Southpaw was the first out of the campsite today. He's going to see a bear. Sure enough he saw a baby black bear!Not much happening on the walk today. Strange how you can't smell nature as well when you leave town. This morning smells like Tide Mountain Breeze. I love the way the warm sun comes through the trees. The way my sleepy eyes open wide after the first mile. Passed Jerry from Kentucky and he told us his wife was coming to see him! Wish I could have seen her at Harvey's overlook. Stoppped for water at Blackrock. Photographer was there taking Thru-hiker pictures with an Iggy and the Stoogies shirt on! Wrote the lyrics to "Was I right or Wrong" by Lynyard Skynyrd in the register. They've been on my mind lately. I've been singing it for days since Cricket played "All I can do is write about it" by the same artist. The photographer here let us look at his pictures. Some of them were funny because people were being so serious. He squatted down to give it a funny angle also. The photographer that is. He called it, "The Hero Shot" Found an ATC bandana with the boot prints in it! Score!Blitzo was here taking a break and getting water. He started his hike in 1989. We asked him why doesn't he have a longer beard if he's been out that long? He'd done it in sections. He hasn't hiked since 1990.Easy hiking through the Shenandoahs. Feels like walking on trails in Raleigh, except with bigger rocks and less noise pollution. Flat like a pancake out here right now. Blackrock summit was pretty cool. The huge blue rocks lay crumbled everywhere like ruins from a collapsed skyscraper. The summit collapsed years ago in a very large scale rock slide. Well, the largest rock side that I've seen. Makes me dream of New England. Also makes me thankful that the trail designers didn't see fit to make me climb that. They're definitely more compassionate here thankfully. No way would I want to climb up those jagged rocks with lots of foot grabbing holes. That'd be a broken leg magnet. I imagine climbing it if it were ice, like on a glacier. This generally cures my urge to go mountaineering.Talking to Southpaw. He's a very interesting person! Tried to find out as much about his life as I could. He's applying for a job in Antartica to work as an assistant scientist. He has a twin brother that started with him. His twin left the trail because he missed his girlfriend. Southpaw played trumpet from 6th grade through college. He has a minor in music. He graduated from Athens, GA with a degree in biology. We talk about music and I ask him about his favorite song to play live. He quoted a Bach song. Mainly he said, "I liked playing in the giant church with the huge pipe organ"We passed the first sign direction us to the Loft Mountain Campstore because the AT actually runs 1 mile beside the campgrounds. Weren't sure about the next sign post so we wasted the energy to walk to an empty parking lot. Walked back to the trail and after walking another 0.5m we started questioning whether we made the right choice or not. Maybe we should have taken that last exit? I ran 0.25 down the trail and found the real entrance. 70yards to the campstore it stated. I clapped my hands and whistled for Cricket and Southpaw to come hither. When we got to the store Michigan and Booboo had missed our arrow that we'd drawn in the dirt. They took the first exit into the campground and missed that part of the trail. They were disoriented as to where the trail was running north or south beind the store.This store is PRICY! Resupply here isn't cheap. Guess it's worth not carrying unnecessary weight. $4.15 pint of Jiff peanut butter. $1.89 Zero bar (King size), and $1.69 Cliff bars. I bought 2 potatoes and a container of pemento cheese. Tasted better than it sounds. We hung out in the shade and listened to Lynyrd Skynyrd by the ice machine. Blitzo came out of the showers and said, "The worst thing I hate about hiking is the smell" I couldn't agree less. That's not nearly the worst part for me. I huffed and thought of a million other negative things besides having a little funky odor to deal with. Went back in the store against my better judgement and bought milk. When I came back out, someone was looking for me by name. "Skippy, someone's looking for you" said Michigan. It was Jerry from Kentucky's wife. I hardly recognized her. I haven't seen her since Newfound Gap where she was doing trail magic. My first random trail magic I believe. She'd been specifically looking for me. When I put my stuff down an object, shiny, purple, and green was hurled in my direction. It was a CADBURY EGG!!! Joann, Jerry's daughter, wanted her mom to give me one if she saw me! That's incredible! Gave me goose bumps! Thanks Joann!BooBoo's feet are still hurting him. He's not liking his brand new sandals. Bon and muscle pain, not blisters. One of the bicyclists over heard the conversation, and this complete stranger takes off this hiking shoes and gives them to Booboo. The shoes right off his feet! Wow! That's something! Jerry's wife is shipping BooBoo's sandals home so he doesn't have to carry them. She wouldn't even take money for it. They're such a nice family! Thanks again guys!We stayed there until later in the evening. hiked to Loft Mountain and enjoyed a little view from there. Feeling excited about the trail today. Amazing coincidences are occuring! Shocked at how the whole world seems in synch with my journey. For my journey and for everyone else. Couldn't find a campsite so we walked the wole way to the shelter, or hut as they are called in the "Shannie's"Brooklyn, Landfill, and that gang are here. They had Blackberry milkshakes at the restuarant. I'm disappointed that I didn't get one. Hoping Cricket, Michigan, and BooBoo get to see a bear! Went to bed reading and listening to BooBoo and Michigan arguing about a dirty food pot. Michigan is cowboy camping and he doesn't want that food near him. BooBoo's already in his hammock so he doesn't want to move it. Michigan is using a silk liner for his sleeping bag now. He doesn't admit it, but he's freezing his tail off. He's been bitten by the weight loss bug, the one that makes your pack lighter and your wallet skinnier.