Date: 2011-05-18
From: (58) Man Week, Day 2: Bearfence Mountain Hut

To: (59) Man Week, Day 3: Pass Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 26.8

~ MAN WEEK DAY 3: LEMUR HANGS HIS FOOD? ~I woke up this morning at 5:30, saw that it was still raining, then rolled over and went back to sleep. After this false start, I awoke again and was out by 6:45. The rain had stopped, but the trail was swamped so my already wet shoes and socks got a little wetter. Because the rain had been forcing my daily mileage into normal sized days, i needed another resupply. I saw a sign for one of the park¢s fabulous camp stores, and decided to hike an extra mile there (and back) so that they could rob me of more money. Long story short, they did. My hike continued. The weather was still clear so I took my camera out of its waterproofing (dollar store zip lock where I throw all of my electronic crap), and actually got some nice pictures of the Shenandoah. Despite the day¢s good conditions, the trail was still a mud pit. In the evening my feet began to hurt like they were rubbing against something sharp. I stopped and took off my shoes and socks to reveal two pale, stained, cracked, and shriveled up feet. One of the toenails was soft and bendy from the moisture, so I took my knife and cut it short. Three days of hiking with water logged shoes was paying its toll. I put on my other pair of socks which helped some, and continued down the trail the best I could, occasionally stopping to fix a hot spot. When I climbed to the top of the next mountain I heard thunder behind me. I turned, and in the distance where I had come from spotted dark clouds shedding rain down onto Earth. I thought of all the hikers behind me who were getting hit, yet again, and was glad that I had hiked enough miles that morning to get out of range.I arrived at a shelter around 6:30. The next shelter was another 13 miles through the dark, and rain clouds were moving in, so I stayed (rain is the toughest obstacle out here). The word on the trail was that the next few days would be perfect weather, so I could pull the trigger then. Plus, my feet were falling apart.At the shelter were several hikers I knew who had passed me back while I was at Trail Days, including Downhill, Fuzzy Navel, Tiger Lilly, and a few others. There was also a guy named Will there who told me that he had hiked the PCT southbound and was one of only 5 who had finished that year. Apparently he is an English teacher who hikes a different trail every summer, this year being the AT. We saw a mouse in the shelter, so I hung my food bag for the first time in at least a month (Bears don¢t scare me, but to hell with mice!). This turned out to be a smart move, because that night the mice were everywhere! We were all settled in to sleep, when these cute little white mice started coming out and running all around the shelter and over our stuff while we followed them with flashlights. One ran vertically straight up the wall! They were clearly daredevils, fearless of humans and trained in the way of the ninja. Downhill left a trail of flour for them leading into the fire with the hopes that they would fall in, and someone else started talking about building a ¢mouse-capult¢ where the mice would find a piece of cheese on a catapult which then launches them into the fire. Brilliant!~The third day of MAN WEEK was 26.8 miles (not counting the 2 to resupply) on rotting feet and ending in mouse country.~