Date: 2017-07-19
From: Camp Road/Mohican Outdoor Center

To: Brink Shelter Tent Site
Miles today: 14.0
Weather: clear sky

7/19Camp Road/Mohican Outdoor Center to Brink Shelter Tent Site14.0 miles Total miles:  1318.4Hours of operation for the camp store at the Mohican Outdoor Center are 8:30 am to 7:00 pm.  I arrived after closing time last night and left before opening time today.  I didn't need any supplies and wanted to get a jump on the day, which looked to be another hot one. Owned by the Appalachian Mountain Club, the Mohican Outdoor Center caters to campers as well as hikers.  An unwritten etiquette exists among thru hikers, and most shelter areas are dead quiet by "Hiker Midnight," which is around 9:00 pm.  It didn't bother me since I am such a light sleeper anyway, but there were people loudly talking and laughing until 1:00 am last night.  My favorite anecdote was of three campers who were walking along the trail near my tent a bit after midnight.  As they approached my tent, I heard one of them caution the others to be quiet. They crept by my tent, only to resume their high volume conversation about ten feet past me.  When we were packing up this morning, Gravity suggested loudly clanging shut the door to the bear box, but, of course, we didn't.  It's not so much the other campers were rude, it's just they were operating under a different set of social expectations that didn't include hiking long hours in the heat the next day.  As it was, we were on the trail by 8:20.  The trail conditions began where yesterday's left off, with lots of rocks.  I made slow progress the first few hours.  I took a short walk along the Rattlesnake Swamp trail and was rewarded with a nice view of the valley below.  I proceeded to the Catfish Lookout Tower, the first one I have seen in a long time.  I climbed as high as I could, as the observation deck was closed.  The view was rather mundane, but I then remembered that such structures were built with the idea of preventing forest fires and not with providing hikers with picturesque views.  The trail notably improved for a few miles to the point that I decided Dr. Jekyll had finally gotten the memo and arrived.  I paused at a stream just three miles into the day to top off my bottles and to drink an extra liter. The heat was already an issue, so I was taking no chances with my water supply. I met Mark at the spring.  Mark (no trail name yet) recently began a thru hike from Harpers Ferry. He is doing a flip-flop hike by first hiking to Katahdin, transporting back to Harpers Ferry, and then hiking southbound to Springer Mountain.  He told me he had hiked a few days with his son, who is presently hiking traditionally northbound, over the Memorial Day weekend and had a great time. For Father's Day, his son gifted him with equipment, and he began his own thru hike.  From Mark, I learned of my latest near miss in the bear sighting department, to add to my litany of near misses. Mark told me that at about 8:30 this morning he was returning to his campsite along the same trail I had used at 8:15 to return to the AT, when he saw a bear passing through the camping area. When I informed him that I have yet to see a bear, he told me that his son, who is presently a few weeks ahead in Connecticut, has seen eighteen.  It may come as a surprise that the most likely place for an AT hiker to see a bear is in New Jersey, so you never know, I might finally get lucky.  I didn't see any bears, but I did see three black snakes and a turtle. The snakes were all in a hurry, but the turtle simply stared back at me when I offered to take its photo.  I'm not sure what kind it is, but it did turn like it planned on following me when I left it to return to hiking. The trail remained pretty good for the most part as I next walked past a large swamp, complete with frogs lily pads, and a swampy odor.  I'm sure it doesn't smell much worse than I do after hiking for two very warm days in clothes that were last washed in a bucket. Mr. Hyde made his return in good time, but there were perhaps three miles of easy trail and several miles of disjointed jitterbug trail today. I was jitterbugging when I passed alongside Crater Lake early this afternoon.  I took a short side trail down to it to get a closer look.  It is a pretty lake, and I accidentally scared a frog who quickly jumped back into the lake.  I quickly returned to the task at hand and hiked the last five miles to the Brink Shelter tenting area.  It appeared that Dr. Jekyll was busy on a house call, because the trail for the rest of the day was quite rocky.  I got to camp at 6:30 and visited with other hikers as I completed my evening camp chores and then prepared to go to bed. I am laying in my tent right now being lulled by the sounds of a lightly snoring hiker (Gravity) and a chorus of bullfrogs from a nearby swampy area. It's past hiker midnight, and all is right with the AT world.