Date: 2004-04-16
From: I-81 Interchange

To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 17.0
Weather: clear sky

"So, we ran into Stanimal earlier. I wonder which one he was"-Xena"Yeah, it could have been that first guy."-Bloody Cactus"Or that second one."-Xena"No, he was just out for the day. We did pass a woman..."-Bloody Cactus"Is Stanimal a woman? I just always assumed it was a man..."-Xena"Maybe it was that other guy?"-Bloody Cactus"The one with the bandana?"-Xena"I don¢t know. I¢m done thinking about it. I¢m all Stanimaled out."-Bloody Cactus"You know, if I just look at the ground and don¢t remind myself its April...I get confused."-Xena¢Why?"-Bloody Cactus"Because it looks like fall with the leaves down."-Xena"Autumn?"-Bloody Cactus"Huh? No, fall." -Xena"Autumn."-Bloody Cactus"That¢s what I said. Fall."-Xena"You¢re wrong. It¢s autumn"-Bloody Cactus"Nope. It¢s fall - spring, summer, fall, winter."-Xena"Summer, autumn, winter, spring."-Bloody Cactus"It¢s fall. Spring forward, fall back. How could you autumn back something?"-Xena"It just proves you were wrong to begin with."-Bloody Cactus"Shut up."-Xena"There¢s too many bugs. This is quickly becoming not fun."-Bloody CactusI realize there were lots of quotes at the beginning, but you¢ve got to understand what our days are like.We passed Mel today, a guy we stayed with at Gooch Mountain Shelter on night 3 or so, and it was really good to see him. During the course of our conversation we found out that we had passed Stanimal. This made us curious because we had both read about him in registers and on trail journals but had never met him...or her. We don¢t even know if Stanimal is in fact a man. So that conversation lasted about ten or fifteen minutes, then all of a sudden Bloody Cactus was done. No more talking or thinking about Stanimal. it struck me as funny and I laughed for a good two miles about it, until we had our conversation about fall/autumn. Bloody is used to me saying "speak English! We are in America, you know," when he says things like "sticky beak" or "fizgig." But this was too much to take! Fall is fall but I can¢t explain why. It¢s just always been fall. Spring forward, fall back. It just makes sense.I feel like this is going to be a long entry, so don¢t get upset. The morning started off nice enough-Buffy on TV, four bowls of cheerios, seven donuts, three glasses of OJ, hot tea and hot chocolate, plus a call to my parents who were a bit upset to find out I had been near a phone for nearly ten hours and hadn¢t called yet!Only come to find out that Grace and Nuffy are off the trail. It¢s hard to hear that someone you¢ve talked to on the internet has gotten off the trail; it¢s even harder when you hear one of our best friends on the trail has gotten off. And, as it always is, the Trail was there to make me think even more. It wasn¢t just PUDs (pointless ups and downs) today, but a day of walking around a big reservoir. One that looked tempting in the beginning but upset us 15 miles later when we saw it again.So the trail wasn¢t joking around today and after the first straight up I couldn¢t help but think about Nuffy. If we had stayed down there would she still be hiking? Could we get her to come up here and hike with us? Should I take a couple days off if she comes to stay at my house? What will I do without my Nuffy to talk to?And then comes the downward spiral about how easy it would be to go home and sleep in a bed. How nice it would be to not have to cook over a fire or worry about the seven more miles you have to do before you go to sleep. Your knees wouldn¢t hurt anymore, you¢d get a decent night¢s sleep for a change.How do you decide when its time to get off the trail? Or does the trail decide for you? Tomorrow I get to hike McAfees Knob with my parents, sis, and some family friends. I¢m stoked.I¢ve already made it 400 miles further than I thought I would. Everything beyond this is bonus points as far as I¢m concerned.On with the day...At lunch we came to this incredible campsite, Lamberts Meadow Campsite, with a wonderful river to soak sore feet in, a nice rock to sun on, and great company. Pinwheel and Boneman are section hiking and when I told them about our flip-flop they knew immediately who we were (¢Look, Ma! I¢m famous!¢).   What great company they turned out to be for lunch.Tinkers Cliffs were beautiful. but another PUD to get to them. There¢s something about walking half a mile on the top of a cliff that makes me feel tiny, but I liked it and the view to McAfees.I went to get the water because Bloody was tired and he read to me out of the companion: ¢Do not get water from the frog pond or the metal box. Get water above the metal box.¢ Well, the frog pond I could understand but we had never seen a metal box at a water source so I had no idea what to expect.Well, the warning was correct, because in the metal box was a big naked man taking a bath!!! I¢m definitely getting water upstream!I¢m so glad I¢m at the shelter and this has already taken longer than I thought it would. Sorry if I bored you, but it¢s my journal and I¢m thinking about spicing it up a bit with my personal thoughts now that you and I have gotten into the swing of hiking everyday.Time for bed.Oh, animals seen: one brown lizard with blue belly, two HUGE turkey vultures up close, hawks and vultures all day long, and a herd of deer running somewhere near the shelter.Pinwheel and Boneman saw a bobcat just before they saw us! I¢m jealous!