Date: 2014-09-20
From: Mt Wilcox North Shelter

To: Tom Leonard Shelter
Miles today: 7.1
Weather: broken clouds

I had a very leisurely morning; I only needed to hike 5 miles by noon. I ran into some day hikers who were very friendly and asked if I needed anything or if I had any trash they could carry out for me. I said no thanks since I was about to meet my parents for resupply, but you could tell they knew a lot about thru-hiking because not many people think of things like that (trash, etc) and how nice it is to be able to unload unnecessary weight. Everything was going all too well until I got close to the road... I saw some animal ahead on the trail but didn't immediately recognize what it was. As I got a little closer, I realized there was a herd of pigs in the middle of the trail. I wasn't sure if they were farmer's pigs that had gotten loose, or if they were wild. I know that some wild pigs have tusks and can be quite aggressive. I eyed a tree to climb if they caused trouble and picked up a good-sized stick. I approached them cautiously and they didn't seem too scared. I whacked my stick against some trees to make noise and as I got closer, they trotted off into the woods. There was a lot of trash on the trail, which I figured was what attracted them to the area.I got out to the road an hour early and sat sat down to wait. Then I heard rustling behind me....it was the pigs again. Rather than mess with them, I crossed the road and sat on the other side for a while and watched them move along back into the woods. I returned to the sunny side of the street and watched the pigs try to cross the road about 50 yards away. They held up traffic and a lady got out of her car to shoo them away. They retreated, but as she walked back around to the driver's side to get in, the pigs crossed in front of the car again. This repeated several times. The day hikers I saw earlier came out to the road and asked if I had seen any sodas in the woods. I said no, but I had seen a lot of trash. Apparently they had left 'trail magic' in the woods for thru-hikers and were wondering what happened to it. I pointed to the pigs and we all figured they must have destroyed the sodas, which looked like trash by the time they were finished. I thanked them for their efforts anyway - I don't think anyone could have predicted that outcome.My parents picked me up and we threw my clothes in the wash while I resupplied from the gear they had brought. I found that pre-washing my socks in the sink before the machine made a big difference in how clean they came out. I had noticed lately, that my shoes were giving me trouble - pinching my feet where my calluses were and putting pressure on them. We stopped at a shoe store on the way to lunch and I picked out a pair of trail runners because they were nice and soft and comfortable. They were a good brand, but they weren't on sale. I figured they were worth buying there rather than running around to shoe stores all afternoon.We ate at a pub and I got back to the trail in the late afternoon. I wasn't going to hike far, there was a shelter just a few miles in. On my way up a hill, I could hear a lot of hooting and hollering in the woods - like a party and hoped it wasn't coming from the shelter. As I got nearer the top of the hill, it looked as if someone had toilet-papered a bunch of trees. Great - I didn't really want to run into any hooligans in the woods, but as I got closer, the paper looked glittery. Then I saw it was the backdrop for a ceremony - a wedding - that was taking place on a dirt road at the intersection of the Appalachian Trail in the middle of the woods. I walked up during the middle of the ceremony and saw the bride, groom, and a full wedding party all dressed up in tuxedos and gowns and the guests were dressed as you would expect for any regular wedding. They had about 40 or so people sitting in folding chairs, the last row of which was within an arm's reach of the trail. I wasn't about to wait for their ceremony to be over, after all, the hikers are supposed to be in the woods, not weddings. One of the guys standing in the back said I was welcome to stay and watch, but I elected to just walk by quietly. Strange. I never figured out where all the partying noise was coming from and you couldn't hear it as I reached the shelter. There were a bunch of people there, but I managed to squeeze in a tent spot even though all the regular ones were taken. There was an unused tent platform, but I decided I didn't like them - they are hard floors, I might as well sleep in a shelter that at least has a roof. I made a light dinner since I had a big lunch in town and took some time to sew my watch to my backpack strap. had traded back my Dad's watch for my old one which had dried out and gotten a new battery. I had it just tied on, but it kept coming untied and I was afraid I'd lose it. Now it was nice and secure. It rained overnight, but I stayed perfectly dry under my poncho.