Date: 2010-05-20
From: Cove Mountain Shelter

To: Bryant Ridge Shelter
Miles today: 7.0
Weather: clear sky

What an amazing lazy day! Braids and I looked at our schedule last night and made some adjustments. We are going to be meeting some Big Sky Kids friends of mine for a day at a bluegrass festival in a couple of weeks. Based on the date and place we need to meet them, this meant we have 14 days (including today) to hike 190 miles. This means a daily average of 13 1/2. Since we tend to average 16 or so, this means significantly slowing down. This led to an early morning decision that for the next two weeks, we are no longer thru-hiking; we are vacationing in the woods. Let me tell you- this is a great feeling!We had heard that Jennings Creek is a great swimming hole and that Bryant Ridge is a great Shelter. We also knew that today was going to be the one day of sun in between many days of rain. With all this information, we decided to take a fun, easy day. We hiked the 3 miles to Jennings Creek, hung out there basically all day, and then left about 4:30 to hike the remaining 4 miles to the shelter. It was so much fun!We hung our hammocks to dry and washed underwear and socks, leaving them in the sun to dry, as well. Then we basically played in the creek and lazed around. I did about 1/4 mile of creek walking while Braids found unique rocks. We watched the many tadpoles and small trout. We hung out with others as they came and went. Hightower taught me to skip rocks! I've tried for years, but never got the technique. Around noon, I went on an adventure to the Middle Creek Campground, about 1 1/2 miles away. I got a hitch there, but soon realized that there wasn't much traffic out that way. I got a Diet Coke and corndog at the campstore. I was able to get online on my phone and check weather. When I confirmed that it wasn't supposed to rain tonight, I decided it would the perect night to pack out s'mores again. After finding, however, that the s'mores stuff would cost me $14 at the campstore, I decided against it. Diet Coke in hand, I realized there were no potentioal hitches anywhere, so I started walking. After 1/2-3/4 miles, a car came by. I stuck out my thumb and a super nice man stopped, happy to drive me the remaining bit to the creek. As we drove, he asked if I went all that way just for a Diet Coke. I explained that I had hopes to bring back a pint of ice cream, but that they only had bars that I knew wouldn't last the long walk back. He immediately offered to drive me 5 or so miles past the creek to the Shell Station and back. What a nice guy! Thank You!!! I accepted, and we returned 15 minutes later with a Twix ice cream bar and a Reeses one. YUM!This was not the only magic of the day. When we were hiking out, we came across Kashmir's parents, who are in town to slackpack him for a week. They gave us cokes and homemade peirogies, and we had a great time chatting. Thanks also to Hikernutt's husband, who took our trash. Fun Bunch! Thank You!We've also had a delightful evening at the shelter-sitting around a fire (Thanks, Wrong Turn!) and listening to AD play the guitar. This is the life!We were going to speed back up tomorrow, but due to shelter spacing and impending rain, have decided to only hike 10 tomorrow, but take a 3 mile side-trip to see an impressive waterfall. Our 7 mile day was made even funnier by the arrival of Snack Attack. He just hiked in one day what we have hiked in three. Haha!!!!Postscript, May 23, 2011: Oh, vacationing in the woods... we felt like such rebels!