Date: 2017-06-17
From: BRP 76

To: VA 812, USFS 36
Miles today: 16.1

At last!  A hike of less than 20 miles.  We packed up our wet tents and were on the trail by 6:40.  Not far into the hike I was overtaken by an older man named Turtle.  Even though his name was Turtle he was not slow.  I eventually caught up to him and hiked with him much of the day.  He's active in the Delaware Valley chapter of the Appalachian Mountain Club and has hiked many times with my friend Robin.  While we were on an uphill a man called Meandering Snail approached us.  He was dressed in brown baggy pants, brown baggy tunic, wooden beads, and a turban (see photo).  He greeted us, "Got any spare candy bars?"  This annoyed me because I had no candy bars and was feeling deprived.  Back in camp at the end of the day Arlene described him as "shaking people down for candy bars." She gave him all of her candy bars.  Turtle remembered having given him Gatorade the last time they met. Some things I've forgotten to write about:* Everyone in the group except me has seen a bear on the trail.  Bill and Arlene are naming them like hurricanes.  So far there are Artemis, Barry, Chuck, Dougie, and Everett.  The next names up are Forrest, Gump, and Harold.  I'll get to name I, J, and K.  * The day Arlene and I passed through a pasture in the morning clouds Lizzie hiked south.  She arrived at that same pasture at the end of the day during a ferocious electrical storm.  Lightning struck on the other side of the pasture. She huddled, terrified, under a tree at the edge of the field and considered quitting the hike.  * Arlene was hiking beside some 6-foot high rocks in the sun one day when suddenly two large black snakes tumbled off a rock onto the trail in front of her. She theorizes that the snakes were having sex and got carried away.  * Two days ago I ate the first ripe blueberry and blackberry I've seen on the trail.* Today I heard the first cicadas on the trail.* Yesterday I smelled my first skunk on the trail.* Two days ago I taught Arlene how to identify poison ivy.  She used to say that all plants look alike.  Now she looks down and says, "That's not poison ivy, that's not poison ivy, that's not poison ivy."  * One day in May Lizzie took her clothes to an Asian laundry.  The owner approached her, "Dirty hiker, you late."  Lizzie responded, "What time do you close?"  Owner: "Dirty hiker come April."  *One day climbing up a long hill I said to Lizzie, "Sometimes this makes me feel like an old woman.  I know I am an old woman, but I don't usually feel like one." Lizzie, who is 38, replied, "Sometimes it makes me feel like an old woman, but I don't dare say that in this group."  (Check ages of group members in the entry on the cast of characters.)When Turtle and I arrived at the trailhead parking lot where he was parked he took me to a nearby town and bought me a spaghetti dinner.  Then he dropped me back at the trailhead, and I hiked the remaining mile to where the van is parked tonight.  There is no suitable place to camp here, so Bill, Arlene, Rennie, and I are sleeping in the van.  Lizzie is off somewhere.  Patti is sleeping in her truck.  Once again we finished hiking without being rained on.  Tomorrow we hike 20.7 miles.  I'm hoping all the spaghetti, salad, and garlic bread I ate in town will make tomorrow's hike a little easier than the other 20-milers we've hiked this week.