Date: 2007-07-02
From: Gravel Springs Hut

To: Pass Mountain Hut
Miles today: 13.1
Weather: clear sky

It was chilly last night and i did not sleep that well. I woke up at my usual time of 5, but was really tired and everyone else was still sleeping, so I too, went back to sleep and stayed in the bag until 8. Moving slow, I finally make it out of the shelter by 10. Since yesterday was such a big day, I think I will take it slow and only do 13 today. I'm not really into hiking today. Lots of thoughts of calling it quits. It's just too hard and lonely. I could be at home in the pool or visiting with my friends. Damn this AT! As I get near the Elkwallow Wayside, which is a very expensive short order restaurant and gift store as well as gas station, I hear some rustling of trees to my right. I figure I have spooked a deer. A minute later, a huge bear crosses the trail in front of me! I guess it was the bear I spooked and I am glad that he was spooked enough to run away. When I arrive at the Wayside, John and Sharon are just leaving and they tell me that the milkshake machine is now fixed. You see, if you haven't figured it out by now, thruhikers love food. And in the SNP there is this thing called the Blackberry Milkshake and every thruhiker must have at least one. This year however, the shake machines have been broken, all of them but Elkwallow. So I am glad to hear that it was only down momentarily and I do in fact fork out the $4 for the shake. In my opinion, its not all that. Its soft serve ice cream with some blackberry syrup mixed in. It hardly tasts anything like the fresh blackb! erries I picked on the side of the trail the other day. But it is a generous size and it is cold and it something other than water or gatorade or dehydrated food. Now, the french fries I bought to go with my cheese and pepperoni wrap were very good - excellent seasoning. Mike the ridge runner is at the wayside and is still very chatty. A nobo, Starfish is there and informs me of the mice at Pass Mtn Hut - where I am heading. Will definitely be hanging the hammock to avoid the mice and the shelter stiffness.Hot ups and downs on the trail from the Wayside to the hut. About a mile from the shelter, my tummy begins to tell me that the shake I had with lunch is not sitting well. I play a lot of mental games trying to convince my body that I will soon be at the hut with a functioning privy. It's a testament to mind over matter! I make it to the hut in time and the privy (a dual one, men's and women's) is prominantly in view. Such a relief! My upset tummy stays with me until morning and I am beginning to think that ice cream does not agree with this hiker's constitution.John and Sharon are at the shelter and we talk and enjoy dinner together. She is a third grade teacher at a private Christian school in Oregon and he is a telephone lineman but has recently been in Iraq for a year as a volunteer Navy Reserve helping them to update their power plant technology so they can be a functioning nation. We both set up our tent/hammock and pretty much turn in early. Before we do though, three nobos show up, two of them having completed a 27 mile day! Impressive, but not sure I can compehend why you would want to hike that far in one day.