Date: 2013-05-02
From: Campsite near East Fork of Big Wilson Creek

To: Dickey Gap Campsite
Miles today: 16.0

It began raining soon after I went to bed and continued all night. I laid in my tent and listened to the rain this morning. I ate breakfast in my tent and did everything I could do before I absolutely had to get out in the rain. This was an unusual morning in that I was packed and ready to go and stood around waiting on Trouble. Usually it's the other way around. We had only walked about a mile when I tried to take a drink from my hydration system and got nothing. I suspected the tubing was kinked so I took my backpack off to fix the problem and was shocked to see my two liter water bag completely empty. The system works by having a mouthpiece that you bite and suck to drink water. Apparently I set my pack on the bite valve while I was waiting for Trouble and the entire two liters drained onto the ground. Fortunately Trouble had enough water to share The first five miles were the most difficult of the day. The trail was rocky and the rain made the footing all that much more difficult. The balds were windy, cold, and completely immersed in clouds. The area we were hiking through was harvested for timber years ago. Grass and small shrubs eventually grew where the trees had been so the cattleman began grazing their livestock there. An area we hiked through this morning is called The Scales. The cattle were sold by the pound. The cattleman realized that their cattle weighed less by the time they drove them down off the mountain so they brought scales up to the mountain to get a better price for their cattle. Best of all they had an outhouse there which provided a chance to get out of the wind and rain for a few minutes. By the time we reached the first shelter, Old Orchard Shelter, the rain had stopped. I refilled my water bladder and we took a break. Backtrack and Tex stopped by and chatted. Backtrack told us a funny story about falling out of his hammock while he was still in his sleeping bag. Jennifer and Aaron also came by and took a break. They are a very nice young couple from Florida on a 4 day backpacking trip. This is Jennifer's first backpacking trip and she seems to be holding up well. Jennifer works in a crime lab and Aaron just finished medical school. At Fox Creek we found Son Driven camping and he is going to zero for a few days due to blisters. We also met Matthew who is doing a trans-American bike ride from Virginia to Oregon to raise awareness for suicide among veterans. If you want to find out more go to Facebook and search for transamerica ride for life It remained overcast all day but the trail conditions improved and we made better time. We were ready to stop for the night but had a difficult time finding a flat enough place to camp. Just as I was crawling into my tent, the tree that Trouble had tied her hammock to fell part way over. She was not hurt but it could have been disastrous if the tree had fallen on her. I helped her move her hammock to a new location but that means I'm getting into bed unusually late. As I was taking my shoes off I noticed that I've developed a blister on my right heal. I'll have to keep an eye on that . . .