Date: 2004-05-05
From: Silver Hill Campsite

To: Riga Lean-to
Miles today: 27.0

log entry 95Start Time-0845End time-2000Morning Weather -cloudy and coolAfternoon Weather- rain in spurts, about 60Evening Weather -one good down pour but generally just cloudy. Cold now at 2245, about 38 deg.Breakfast- peaches and cream instant oatmeal, nutty bars, strawberry CIBLunch -poptart and nature valley bar but I cooked a Lipton rice meal (beef flavor) and also had a chocolate CIB and a package of dried beef.Dinner -jerky stroganoff, orange delight pudding5-A tough day I thought. Partly because it felt like my pack was chained to the ground but also the first 10 miles from Silver Hill were up and down. Much tougher than the "coasters" of north VA. Some easy walking along the river again and the climb up Prospect mtn was manageable. The climb up Lion's Head was by far the toughest since central Virginia. I think at least. The summit was top-shelf, but tough to get to. Also this morning I waded my first stream. Guinea brook which is usually crossed by rock hoping was too high to try. I lookedaround a little but it was time to zip my shorts on anyways which requires me to take off my boots. So to be as efficient as possible it just made sense to wade across. The water didn't get past my knees, and it was bitter cold but it felt good on my feet. People- Gray Panter at Riga lean-toAnimals -a ton of chipmunks and one thunder chicken (ruffed grouse)Money- noneBiggest Complaint- a loooooooong day, I ran the gamet of emotions as usual. No one ever told me that thru-hiking would make you bi-polar.10- The quote that was in my head when I woke up was fairly appropriate for my attitude during the day. "Don't worry about the horse being blind, just load the wagon." ¢ John Madden (not originally his quote but I forgot who he gave credit to.)I think the main thing that brought me down during the day was lack of good nutrition. Like Adrianna told my dad in an email, ¢3 months of fudge rounds and ramen will catch up with you¢. I planned on eating a lunch at a diner .2 of a mile up US7 but it turns out they burned down. So I was hungry and a little miffed for walking all that way to be turned down. As I crossed the iron bridge over the Housatonic river near Falls Village I decided that I was not going to be able to ¢muscle out¢ the last 12 miles to Riga. I had enough water to cook and plenty of extra dinners so I whipped up some Lipton and ate some dried beef at the picnic area near the dam. That really lifted my spirits and I pounded out the last 12 in 4 hours, making it to the shelter right at 8 o¢clock.Gray Panter was already in his bag but not asleep and he didn¢t mind that I cooked in the shelter even though about a week earlier a bear woke up everyone inside the shelter by standing on the steps and peering in.After a hearty dinner I washed dishes away from camp (pointless since I cooked right out of my bag). Then I decided against hanging my food bag. It was too dark and I figured that if I use my food bag as a pillow any bear that wants my food will have to go through me to get it. Not really the exact logic I used but sort of. I figure there is a good chance that if I hung my bag in the dark I would have a bear of a time doing so and end up most likely with a situation where my food bag was still susceptible. So if I kept it inside with me it would take a mean ole bruin to come in the shelter after it. I am sure I will get plenty of responses about this but bears are really scared of humans and the ones that aren¢t are going to kill you if they want to kill you anyways. Besides if I bear comes into my shelter after my food bag I will just throw him over the cliff. It¢s worked well for me in the past. J