Date: 2004-06-16
From: Hemlock Springs Campground

To: Hammocking near Canopus Lake
Miles today: 16.0
Weather: clear sky

It¢s another late night into camp - spent a little too much time at lunch taking into consideration the late start this morning. Was not motivated to leave the comfortable bug-free hammock. Once I finally left camp things were alright. Traveled four miles to a Franciscan monastery. This was interesting because my church is also in the Franciscan family and used to be a monastery at one time. It¢s now been converted into a nursing home. The church has mass for both the residents and for the public. The Graymoore Center lets hikers sleep in a pavilion with cold showers nearby. Later on in July, hikers are invited to have dinner with them. I did miss out on the free dinner, but I did not miss out on the cold shower! I used to take cold showers after a run back home when the air conditioning was not turned on. So they are nothing new. It was a breath taking experience! No soap, or towel was provided but that did not lessen the experience and fresh feeling afterwards. This is the first shower I¢ve had since Boiling Springs (could use another now)!   Had goose bumps on my legs for a good five minutes after the shower. Life is good. Then as I was browsing through the hiker box at the pavilion what did I find but a bottle of Polar Pure! As I said in an earlier entry my bottle broke on some rocks back in PA. Was just about to get another bottle at an outfitters store here in a week or so. Between here and there no stores have carried Polar Pure water treatment.   It¢s a specialty item stocked in backpacking specialty stores. So this was a huge treat to find this bottle. To top it off another two miles down the trail revealed a box of trail magic containing drinks! By that time sweat was dripping from my chin like a leaky faucet. It was freakin¢ hot today! Not just hot - but humid! This is something you never get used to, living in Ohio has taught me, ya just have to deal with it and keep on walking.I¢ve just figured out why there are so many spider webs spun across the trail. This question has dumbfounded me for years. I had just thought the spiders were stupid and really bad at choosing an appropriate building location. This is not the case. In fact they are very smart indeed! They build their webs across the trail to catch all the flies and mosquitoes flying around hikers¢ heads when they walk underneath. Sometimes they build them a little too low resulting with spider web in your mouth. The flies were horrible today even after the shower. Most of the time while I¢m hiking they will not buzz around. Today they would fly around my head and then land for just a second and then fly around some more. When they landed I would attempt to swat them with my hand. Reminded me of whack-a-mole. You know the game where the tiny moles pop out of their holes and you try to whack them over the head with a mallet. The difference is I was whacking my head a lot more than hitting the flies :-)Ate an early dinner about four miles from camp in a large gravel parking lot for two reasons. The most important there were a lack of mosquitoes in the parking lot. The second reason was to save time at camp. Camp tonight is my first night of stealth camping. It¢s about 50 feet off the trail. This is not an official campsite. In fact its so stealthy you could not even camp here with a tent, The hammock is set up over a pile of rocks. This entire area is a rock field covered with leaves and some soil. No big noises yet so my nerves are ok for now. The whip-poor-will bird was singing its song earlier. The whip-poor-wills¢ song is believed to be super bad luck to the Cherokee Indians. Also Lucky Star's story about being drug off by a bear in her bivy sack a few weeks ago is also on my mind. I¢m just hoping the rocks will be too uncomfortable for the bear to walk across, and the car noises will keep them away - just about 100 yards off the road. The cars are very soothing to listen to, will put me right to sleep.