Date: 2008-04-08
From: partnership shelter

To: knot maul branch shelter
Miles today: 25.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Wow, what a day...a day of ups and downs and hills and valleys and civilization and cows...So, after planning out my next section of the trail, I decided to ditch my schedule and play it by ear. Primarily because I thought my first day was too easy and I would get in too soon. It turned out to be a good thing.I got up pretty early because I decided I was really going to push it today. Left with the sun, though it was behind the clouds and fog. Had some fog rain early on, and then the dreariness stuck around for a while.Right off the bat I came upon two deer laying down about 50 feet off. One took off and the other stared me down. I was sneaking out my camera but he took off.A little later there was a construction style road work sign ON the trail. Very odd, took a picture since my camera was warmed up.Some small rolling hills and Toddy Bear caught up with me. We hiked together for a while today. It is nice to talk to someone else while hiking; I hardly noticed I was climbing. The time also went faster. It was still foggy, so it wasn't like I was missing anything.We went through a burn area, the USFS was doing a controlled burn on a mountain. Luckily we got through.Descended and walked over some rolling hills and pasture for a while until we got to another interstate - I-81.This was 11 miles in and it was shortly after eleven. Making some awesome time. Weird because that would have been my entire daily mileage at the start of the trip but I did it in four hours now, before an early lunch.We went up to a restaurant advertising home cooking, and they were true to their word. Half pound chili cheeseburger and fries. Delicious. I didn't want to eat too much so I could continue hiking alright.Resupplied at a convenience store. Had to get a little creative with some of my meals, but it will work. Just not my normal fare.After that, we headed back into the hills. Crossed some pastures first and then started to climb. The thing about this trail club is they seem to dislike switchbacks. This makes for some steep ups and downs.Got to a shelter and took a quick break. This was at 1, and this is where I was planning on spending the night...glad I decided to push it.Some really steep ups and downs and I came to a valley with some water. Water seems to be hit or miss for a while now, so unfortunately I had to camel up for a while. Also broke out the sunglasses and sunscreen. The sun chased away the clouds. I'm rapidly depleting my sunscreen...yes, that is just a taunt to you Michiganders.The next climb was decent but well graded. The top of the mountain marked the 1/4 point of the trail. I was pretty excited and stopped for some self portraits attempting to depict my milestone. Just incredible, my words can't describe it, you just have to experience it.I eventually went down and crossed a few miles of cow pastures. Some rolling hills. At one point, about 10 cows were standing in the middle of the trail blocking me. Took a picture and just walked forward and they moved. A little weird and cool.After the pastures there was one more big climb. I'll be honest, I was getting a little tired at this point. However, like I had been the entire day, I managed to keep my maximum pace up the hill and rolled on. I was really surprised that I was able to keep my pace for over 25 miles up and down, and it didn't really wear on me too much. Pretty happy about that.I got to the shelter, and was a little glad to arrive. A sectioner and Bad Humus and Toddy Bear were there. Stovie pressed on and we didn't think Fester would make it due to foot problems.The day was just short of being a marathon - though marathons don't have the 7000 feet of climbing we did today and there are no packs involved. The water situation at the shelter {none} drove me to hike another .8 miles round trip to get water. This officially puts me over a marathon today in roughly 10 hours including breaks but not lunch. That won't win any records, but let me tell you, I'm damn proud of that, and damn proud of myself and what I did today. Wonderful, wonderful day.Very tired, I'll sleep well tonight.