Date: 2018-04-30
From: Maupin Field Shelter

To: Paul Wolfe Shelter
Miles today: 15.8

I got up early at Maupin, but namely so I could catch up on my journaling a bit. I¢ve been getting behind. I take some notes during the day, but usually I have to squeeze in the writing at night. I¢ve been so tired lately from the miles and heat that I can barely stay awake at night to get a few sentences down. Sometimes I try the morning journaling, but I¢m also usually antsy for breakfast and to get out and hike. Today I decided to eat breakfast, then journal while I had my coffee. I slept well last night. The weather was chilly but not freezing, and I was so tired from the events of the night before, not to mention hiking 20+ miles. I ran and grabbed my food bag off the bear pole. A bear pole is basically a giant coat hanger for food bags. It is somewhere in the 15-20 feet range and has hooked arms at the top. There is a long metal hook rod that looks a little like a shuffleboard stick, and you use that to hang your food bag on the hook. I like the bear pole! It saves me from having to use my bear line.By the time I left camp at 9:30, everyone else was gone. I filtered some water at the pretty little stream behind the shelter and headed out. I immediately ran into a couple from somewhere overseas (I think Germany but I¢m not sure). They were out for the day walking the Mau-Har trail, a loop trail that goes from just north of Maupin Shelter back to the AT south near the previous shelter. It¢s supposed to be a really beautiful loop trail and I know some thrus who took it, but I¢m a white blazer so I¢ll have to come back for that one. They asked me a few directions and i helped them out using Guthook, and then I took off.The day was easy hiking. Some ups and downs but no momentous climbs or anything. I didn¢t see a single thru hiker during the day, and only passed a few day or section hikers. It was a good day just to enjoy the warm weather - sweating is much better than freezing!! There were some nice views, and I enjoyed watching the chipmunks, squirrels and towhees foraging around in thickets. I had lunch at an awesome overlook, and I also took a side trail to see Humpback Rocks - a rock formation that looks a little like a humpback whale. I did pass Radio today, who was heading southbound. As a refresher, Captain Krispy had a friend join him for part of his hike. He left the trail and then came back on his own to do a section, this time walking South. I almost didn¢t recognize him because he had cut his hair and shaved his beard! We chatted for a bit about Krispy¢s injury and he said that Krispy will just finish his hike next summer. Bummer! I was hoping maybe he would heal fast and somehow make it back, but I guess a stress fractured femur is serious and needs time to heal.I trekked on and came to a cooler of trail magic near a parking area. Alas, the sodas inside were all empty! I spent some time singing songs again today. Perhaps related to my ridge line camping experience the other night, I sang a few rounds of ¢Bend and Break¢ by Keane. That then lead me into another of their songs, ¢Somewhere Only We Know.¢ It¢s such a good song for me on the trail, wanting to get back in touch with simple things myself. The song¢s refrain goes: ¢oh simple thing, where have you gone? I¢m getting tired and I need something to rely on. So tell me when, you¢re gonna let me in. I¢m getting tired and I need somewhere to begin.¢ It¢s so easy to get tired and sucked into the meaningless business of things that don¢t really matter. The trail is a great reminder of things that truly matter, even if they are not on the trail! I think even truly lost people can feel it. It¢s like coming home, or knowing you¢re close to home. The first verse of that song is an interesting parallel, because he sings: ¢I walked across an empty land. I knew the pathway like the back of my hand. I felt the earth beneath my feet. Sat by a river it did make me complete.¢ He sings that even as he asks where that simple connection has gone. I think the message is that the simple things have always been there - we just can¢t lose them. We can¢t let them go, which means we have to remain open to the way they have always made us feel, even if that seems silly as we grow older. It¢s not just appreciating the simple things; it¢s holding on to the connection we feel with them and protecting that pathway. And by all those ¢we¢s¢ I guess I mean ¢me,¢ since this is a diary of my thoughts and experiences and not a projection on other people. Whitewater and a section hiker were at Paul Wolfe when I arrived. The shelter was awesome, with a huge covered sitting area with a picnic table, double decker platforms and even skylights on the side. The creek in front of the shelter was quite pretty and made for a lovely water source. Tarzan showed up and we all made food and chatted. We had a funny conversation about favorite M&Ms. Whitewater loves the caramel ones, so I¢ll have to give those a whirl. I have never had them. When I said I liked peanut butter M&Ms, the section hiker claimed they weren¢t M&Ms because there was no chocolate, and the debate was on! It was light hearted and funny. I was only 5 miles away from Waynesboro. Originally, I thought I would just hike in the same day, but I have a lot of things to accomplish in town, so I figured it was better to arrive early in the morning. I am considering a zero in town, but not sure yet. I need to stay somewhere and shower, do laundry, resupply, get a new gas canister, bug spray and permethrin, retreat my clothes, and EAT! I have my food eyes on Ming¢s all you can eat Chinese buffet and a diner called Weasies. I was grateful today for the good weather and relatively straightforward hiking, as well as having some camaraderie at camp. Lucky for me, I don¢t have to wonder where the simple thing is. It¢s all around me every day.Postscripts:#1 - yesterday was my Dad¢s birthday and I forgot to mention that I was able to get a signal and call him. That was nice and I talked with both parents for a bit, mid trail! Happy birthday Dad!!#2 - I forgot to mention how funny the shelter logbook is at The Priest Shelter. Most hikers start their entry with ¢Forgive me father for I have sinned¢ and then confess something.i did not, but I wish I had confessed about my tent incident!