Date: 2018-06-10
From: Cross Avenue

To: Rice Field Shelter
Miles today: 7.7
Weather: scattered clouds

Our shuttle arrived at 9am this morning. We used Don this time, and he was great!  He drove us to the road by Angels Rest Rock where we left off two days ago. I took the lead this morning.  There was a little up and a little down, but the path was mostly packed dirt or slightly muddy.  Rocks and roots were at a minimum and that¢s great!  I hiked through the woods to an open grassy area that eventually led to a road I had to cross. But when I got to the open area l turned around and took a picture of where I had just been. It wasn¢t a big up or anything, but it was beautiful. I sometimes look back and say to myself wow I was all the way up there! I waited at the road for the rest of my tramily.  We took a break and admired the wild strawberries that are just turning red.  I didn¢t know, but Big Kahuna had already eaten one a little ways back.  I¢m giving them a few more days to ripen before I start eating.  The insects are bad today!  I put on repellent twice and still got bites.  The bug net Papa Big Swig got me is a blessing.  I always feel like I¢m a bee keeper when I wear it.  When we left from our break it started UP. But really the path was perfect.  Soft and flat.  That was great for my back and hip that I¢ve been nursing.   Not far up the path I began to smell a stench... a horrible rancid stench!  Through the trees I could see where they are drilling the pipeline.  I have no idea what gasses they are releasing from the earth but they¢re probably toxic.  I hiked by that as quickly as possible.  I forgot all about that smell when my perfect path led me through a nice hallway of Mountain Laurel.  It just lights up the forest!  I came down out of that mountain to a road at the gap.  The sign said road closed, and  a police officer was monitoring hiker traffic.  There were no cars.  She directed me to the next up point of the A.T. and gave explicit directions how far to stay away from the work zone.  Our shuttle driver told us we may see law enforcement as there have been issues with protesters.  I still have not researched how this pipeline will affect the A.T., but over all I¢m pretty sure I protest it too.   Despite construction going on, the birds kept singing.  I tuned out the construction noise and dialed in to chirps and whistles.  My favorite radio station! I sat down on a rock for a while and waited for Hugs and Big Kahuna.  When they arrived I learned that they had already taken a break without me, so they moved on.  I wasn¢t far behind, and soon caught up. The trail became a road. It was much like Abandoned Road, and Hugs even mentioned that.  About a half mile down Big Kahuna said he had not seen a white blaze in a while.  One quick check with Guthook¢s app and his suspicion was confirmed.  Ugghhh!  We turned around and walked a half mile back.  That added a whole mile we don¢t get credit for onto our day.  Good thing this day was a planned Nero. We only had about a mile to go when the terrain made a change.  My perfect trail became a perfectly rocky trail, and it was all UP  I was back in front again clanking my poles on the rocks. That noise of poles on rocks must really scare the bears, because before long a small one ran across the path in front of me and down the mountain.  It wasn¢t a cub, but definitely not full grown either.  That¢s the first time I¢ve seen a bear run down hill.  They usually always run up. We passed a piped spring on our way to the shelter.  We all needed water, but Didn¢t want to carry it with our fully loaded packs.  It was a joint decision to come back after we drop our packs.  By the time we reached our shelter we could see the rain coming in.  Big Kahuna took one for the team and went back to fill all of our water bags.  He got soaked when the rains came down. Not a complaint when he returned.  There were a few hikers here and more showed up during the rain, but they all moved on.  One was Medicine Man and Tanker just arrived.  He¢ll be moving on too.  I¢m about to make Mountain House Turkey and stuffing for dinner.  Until Next Time Blue Raccoon (2018)Where¢s your faith?