Date: 2012-05-20
From: O'Lystery Pavilion 

To: Chestnut Knob Shelter
Miles today: 11.5
Weather: clear sky

We had camped in this tiny little valley, more of a big ravine I suppose, with water flowing down the middle and stinging nettle everywhere.  The sun hit us late and we were slow to get moving.  We all had plenty of business to attend to this morning and that was difficult at this location.  It seemed like everybody did things in serial rather than in parallel and I was a little frustrated.  I talked to Downhill and Patches while waiting and this guy came up through the bushes asking about some coolers.  No introduction, he just said interrupting us, "You all move those coolers?". He said it a second time time because none of us really answered.  Patches answered the question but didn't provide any explanation and Downhill filled in the gaps but not very loudly and without making eye contact.  Downhill said, "Yeah, they were empty and we camped here last night so we moved them down there."  She was fumbling with one of her shoes while she said this.  I didn't realize what was going on and the guy got upset.  He told us that he fills those with trail magic for the hikers.  They went back and forth with the guy eventually walking off mad.  I got more of the story later - enough to deduce the rest - and all of us were in the wrong.  The guy, Lumberjack 2006, should have introduced himself upon arrival and talked to us a little.  He also should not have left coolers filled with food and/or garbage in a problem bear area overnight.  We should have been more grateful for his gift to the hiker community.  We should have also engaged him in friendly conversation.  It was a mess and it didn't need to be.  I have noticed this about a lot of hikers.  They don't interact with the general public very well.  Perhaps it is from the solitude out in the woods, or maybe it has to do with the type of person that is attracted to this sort of thing in the first place, but it sure makes for some really  awkward misunderstandings.  My apologies to Lumberjack for not stepping in and intervening when things got messy.  I would have loved to have heard some of your stories and shared some of mine.  I hope that today's events don't change your commitment to the future hikers coming through.  Sigh.  We left shortly afterward and hiked up the hill departing camp at 10:45am.  I did not have high hopes for today's hiking potential and am a little concerned about running out of food.  I only resupplied for three days and it looks like it will take us four.  I stopped at the first shelter and used the privy.  The privy is another example of volunteers going above and beyond to make this trail a better place.  This trail would be pretty gross with all that extra impact.  The girls stopped for a moment, ate a quick snack, and moved on.  I was expecting a full-blown cooked luncheon and they were quick.  I made a sandwich, talked with Patches and Downhill when they arrived and hiked on to the next water to filter.  I had bad-tasting cow creek water from the night before and I wanted to replace it.  I eventually caught the girls an hour later and they were hysterical.  There had been a giant black snake and Baxter apparently had gotten into a vicious fight with it.  They told this to me at a distance of 100m and I looked to my right and immediately saw what they were talking about.  Good timing, girls.  The snake was huge, easily 3-4m long.  It was also beautiful.  To see it so close, the movements were so smooth.  I was mesmerized for a second watching the texture and how the skin pivots in response to the sinusoidal movement.  It hadn't eaten anything big in the last few hours and was probably hunting through the dried leaves.  I moved past carefully down the trail and rejoined the group.  They had left me all sorts of messages along the trail.  I missed them all.  We hiked down a pretty good distance to Lick Creek and went for a swim.  It was so refreshing, instantly cutting the heat from the late afternoon.  After that, up and up was to be the name of the game.  We dried off and hiked on, happy for the break.  We went up through the forest for miles and eventually broke out into a big clearing.  The views went on for four sets of mountain ranges.  The blue got darker with each more-distant range.  Big cumulus clouds puffed up the sky and created dramatic beams of light across the sky as the sun dipped behind them.  As we got to the edge of the clearing, there was a pond fed by a spring.  It was petty sketchy and barely flowing but my book listed it as the last good water source before the next shelter.  Coming back from the pond, I noticed a parallel ridge to the east and had a sweeping view of the farming valley in between.  We hiked up for another hour or two until we got to Chestnut Knob Shelter, a big four-sided shelter built out of rock.  It even had windows and a door.  Classy.  It was situated on a big grassy knob with strands of maple, oak, and poplar off in the distance.  We set up camp off in the trees and enjoyed a fantastic pink, orange, purple sunset while cooking dinner and hanging food.  The girls are really starting to get their system down.  The stars came out big and bright and we were on our way to falling quickly asleep.  It was a long day and we all deserved a good night's sleep.  I took a stroll out to the field right before hopping into my hammock and soaked up the seemingly-infinite starry twinkles.