Date: 2007-05-14
From: Dennis Cove Road, Kincora

To: Watagua Lake Shelter
Miles today: 10.7
Weather: scattered clouds

May 14, Never Take Food From StrangersI slept like a rock last night outside Kincora. I even slept in until 7:20 a.m. It was a slow morning. I was still working on packing up and getting everything where it needed to go. I ate my breakfast of powdered doughnuts and two bananas - ew. But as I was packing up outside, ParkBench asked if he could make me some eggs! Of course! I had just met ParkBench and his friend, Sanford, last night at the hostel. They thru-hiked last year and Sanford shared his ice cream sandwich with me - generous folk. Anyway, about ten minutes later ParkBench hunted me down with a bowl full of cheesy eggs and a biscuit. Delicious. Thank you, ParkBench. I should note that ParkBench refuses to call me Persistent. Instead, he calls me Persimmon (spelling?). I kind of like that too...since I love persimmons.I spent the morning chatting with Sara and Josh, Yellow Snowman, and other folks at the hostel. Sara was kind enough to donate some lotion to me to put on my heels as well as some blister prevention stuff. So nice. I watched Sara and Josh with jealousy as they swapped out much of their gear for lighter items they'd had mailed to them. I can't wait for that day.We hit the trail around 11 a.m. and entered Pond Lake Wilderness. The first stint was almost totally level but then we had to climb down to Laurel Falls. Lots of rocks and stairs and even a snake! The falls were gorgeous. I really didn't want to leave. In fact, I was downright frustrated that we had to hike and limit our time there. But I suppose that's what I signed up for. I met a guy along the trail who was passing out coconut maccaroons..mmm. I thought of how strange it must seem in the real world that I would be walking in the woods and accept food from a stranger that was not hermetically sealed (right, Aunt Manon?). But that is the norm out here.We had a pretty big hill to climb after that. It was nice and gradual for quite a while and then it started heading straight up. And up and up. I stopped near the top to munch on some lunch - beef jerky, cheddar cheese, and Runts - and watched the butterflies prancing around the azaleas. Lovely.The hike down was just fabulous. Easy switchbacks and beautiful, clear trail. I stopped to removed my duct tape from my left foot. Instead, I tied my shoes really loose and I think it's working.I got down to the road and stopped to wait for Certain, I hadn't seen her for a while. I called Eric while I waited and was greeted by a quirky brown and white horse (Erin, I thought of you and usually do when I see horses). Later, I would try to take a photo of that horse and he acted like he was hiding.Certain was not feeling well so we took the rest of the hike pretty slowly. We crossed the road to Watagua Lake and sat there for a bit. We even had some guy ask us if we wanted to carry a big bottle of wine as a sign to wish us luck. I passed only because wine is too heavy. But, I almost wished we would have zeroed and spent the day at the lake. It made me think of the lakes back in Michigan. But we only had 1.8 miles to go to the shelter. We hiked in here and there is a ton of folks here tonight. So many tents that no one is actually on flat ground. Bear bags are hanging over eveyone that is not sleeping in the shelter. Ah well. All in all this was a good day. My feet actually felt awesome at the end of the day, could be my loose tying method, but I was thankful for that. I was pretty homesick today though. We had lots of great things to look at on the trail today and it was a little sad not to be able to share it. I miss the comforts of home sometimes too but I'm also growing really comfortable in my tent and bag.Sara, Josh and Fuzzy Monkey are all here tonight and that's nice. I like these new friends. Fuzzy even made his monkey noises as he crawled into his tent tonight. Sounds goofy but it's truly things like that that make the day fun.I also got an email from Not Guilty with an update on Sailor's whereabouts and it sounds like he should be right around us somewhere. Yippee!Well, I am exhausted and can barely keep my eyes open. Night.- Sound of some bug vibrating on my rain fly, water flowing, people rustling around in camp.