Date: 2012-06-30
From: Morgan Stewart Shelter

To: Wiley Shelter
Miles today: 16.5
Weather: broken clouds

Wonderful wonderful kind dirt trail today. And finally I am starting to feel strong again. With so many closely spaced Delis, I've upped my protein intake a lot and think that is noticeably helping my body repair itself. or maybe it's just the better tail and lower miles. whatever it is, I'm liking it. I ended up taking a lot of breaks today because of the heat which turned out great as it meant No Sweat caught up to me and we hiked together for a bit. sweet guy. Ha with a much heavier pack he is still faster than I am, like most everyone out here.   But we kept pace together (i.e. he slowed way down) enjoying good conversation. At some point we got on the discussion that i often day dream about having my very own pack mule. sure you're not allowed to have pack animals on the trail, but I think I could hire myself a big burly guys to follow behind me carrying my pack, lifting me across streams and other obstacles. This all quickly spun into crazyville as we added more and more ridiculous things to the sherpas duty. At one point on a particularly rolling section of trail directly in the sun, i slowed and told No Sweat to go ahead and pass but the crazy kid refused and instead all of a sudden there was this force on my pack pushing me up the hill. I was so startled I let out a laugh and was quickly energized enough to convince him to stop and pick up my pace. Ha imagine if you could put wheels on your feet and just roll your way north. Okay it was a silly day but no way was I going to let some poor guys push me up a hill so i got my act together.We got to see the Dover oak which is thought to be the oldest oak tree on the AT at 300 years. It is huge, 20' 4" around and let's just say impressively towering. I think the funniest part was that they had set up reflector lights all around it as it is right on the road and they really don't want people to hit their tree. A quick walk on a new swamp boardwalk and over the train tracks where a commuter train runs directly from NYC, and we were back on another road. this road was special though as it lead to another deli. this time i decided to walk there with the rest of the crowd and was rewarded by a huge roast beef sandwich. yum. A NY trail maintainer Sasquatch came over and hung with us for a while sharing great stories from the trail. I was having such a good time and decided to just through my itinerary out the window and enjoy this moment with all the other hikers. Texas Billy joined us and toward late afternoon Sasquatch drove us back down to the trail. Of course now I'm watching my leg cuts very closely after hearing all the horror stories about staff infection out on the trail. Right about now we all get hotter, dirtier and showered less so it's a real problem. At the shelter I got the chance to talk with Two Steps and Pay Man. I finally worked up the courage to speak german with them after years of not practicing and although my grammar is still horrible, it's amazing how fast it comes back and we've been having a great time chatting. Two Step is not as comfortable speaking english as her partner and I think she really liked being above to converse easily with other hikers. They are slowing down miles just as I feel able to speed up so unfortunately this is our last night at the same place. I will be sad to not see them anymore. sigh, deadline deaden.