Date: 2006-10-29
From: symm's gap meadow

To: campsite just past wind rock
Miles today: 16.4

======2003======¢maundy thursday¢, april 17, day 55woke up to a full moon goin¢ down over one ridge and the sun comin¢ up on the other! (of course i had to TRY and take pictures with my little disposable...i¢m sure it won¢t turn out)......this was a mild, lovely a.m.....left out at about 7:30 (arrived here at our campsite at about 4:45)....i sure felt GREAT this mornin¢!....i finally figured it out : the woods make me feel good...towns make me feel bad! simple! ha ha!....anyway, i enjoyed singing most of the morning as we hiked along in the mild temps...just before lunch, we had a pleasant walk down peter¢s mtn (?), which had lots of switchbacks and thus plenty of easy, level trail....but we saw one of the biggest, blackest snakes we have ever been startled to encounter!.....killeen had to ¢shoo¢ him off the trail, but he was so long he almost stretched to the trail below where it had switched back!then as we got nearer to the bottom, we experienced some of the most beautiful scenery!...the trail followed along beside one of the prettiest little mtn. streams i believe i¢ve ever seen....there were lots of little waterfalls and tiny sparkling pools edged in velvety green moss as the water ¢sang¢ its way under glistening boughs of rhododendron....i thought, ¢this would be the PERFECT place for the maundy thursday rite of ¢feet washing¢!....unfortunately, we felt we needed to hurry along on our way*....i had been composing a register entry in my head most of the morning to celebrate this special day, so we actually did spend a little extra time on our break at the shelter (a second trimpi memorial)....we enjoyed snacking, writing and getting water in the fine noonday sun amid surroundings melodic with stream and bird song!....after lunch proved to be a bit more difficult, however.....the next climb was fairly steep and we had rocks underfoot all afternoon!...the skies also began to darken, so we tried to pick up our pace a little over the ¢wobbly¢ trail....as a thunderstorm seemed to be imminent we began to scan the rocky woods for possibilities of a good place to stealth....but it was only about 3:00, so we hiked on.....and ON!...we finally got to the salt sulphur turnpike which clued us in that we were only about 1 12 miles from our intended destination....YEA!...it looked like the ¢bottom was about to drop out¢!...AND....it had gotten really cold again!.....but.....here we are.....all set up and cookin¢ our corn and garbanzo bean chowder and still no rain!.....our tarp is up if we need to dash ¢inside¢....we¢ll definitely be ready to ¢snuggle in¢ on full tummies when it does start to rain...haven¢t had many baths or showers these days....there simply hasn¢t been an abundance of water over these ridges (though we¢ve had all we¢ve wanted for drinking)...the register at the shelter today asked 3 ¢fun¢ questions :1.what 3 items do you think would be best sent home?2.what is your one ¢luxury¢ item you could NEVER part with?3.tell us where you¢re fromwell, i don¢t think they intended we should answer for each other, but killeen said that HE was my one luxury!...(i think he¢s right!)======2006====== NO ENTRY*NOTES/OBSERVATIONS/COMPARISONS*hurry along our way.....if i had it to do a third time, i¢d take more time to go with our ¢whims¢....you only enjoy ¢First Earth¢ once!