Date: 2015-07-14
From: Green Mt Hostel

To: Clarendon Shelter
Miles today: 15.6
Weather: scattered clouds

7/14, 15.6, Clarendon ShelterI woke this morning and checked my head verifying that it takes more than a twenty inch low hanging tree to leave little more than a scratch on this rock hard head of mine. Its all good! I started the coffee at 4:45 because breakfast this morning was a little bigger plan. IB and JP were fixing huevos rancheros, and I was going to have scrambled eggs, potatoes and sausage. I was still feeling full from dinner and ice cream last night, so I opted for cold cereal, OJ and coffee instead. We managed to eat, clean the kitchen, pack and load by 7 to head over and pick up the ladies from the other hostel across town. We decided to make one last check at the post office on the way, and sure enough, our forward from ourselves via Albuquerque had arrived, along with Bill's socks. As we drove across town we decided to just send all of the food from the box back to the hiker box at the hostel, since we were already fully loaded for several days. Bill did retrieve his meds from the resupply box and stuffed his new socks quickly into his pack so all is good again. A hiker box can be found at hostels, motels, and even some restaurants along the trail which is gear and/or food left by hikers, for hikers. It is part of our routine to look through each one of these to see if there is anything we can use, and laugh at all of the stuff some hikers are finally leaving behind. We picked up the girls, loaded in the Suburban, and were all laughing and visiting within moments. I'm not sure what Jeff was thinking but as a thru hiker I am sure he was smiling at the way the trail throws unlikely people together into a support structure that is helpful to all. At 7:15 we were each heading our own direction up or down trail as the case may be. We started our day with a 400 ft climb away from the road. The sun was shining but it was humid as the forecast was for developing thunderstorms by early evening and temps were moderate. Under the forest canopy we were comfortable, but began sweating very quickly. Otter took the lead feeling strong and light. We had weighed our packs at the hostel and after sending a few things home his was 25 lbs with three days food and a days water so he was feeling good. I was packed the heaviest, as usual, since my resupply held four days food and a few extra items I was carrying a whopping 40 lbs! The first day after a resupply is always heavy but it is especially annoying to have four days food when the next resupply is only three days away. One might think I would be better at this by now but sometimes it just loads up that way. We had three significant climbs, mostly due to length but somewhat due to gaining altitude. The longest was the climb up and over another Bear Mountain. We have lost count but there must be twenty different bear mountains along he AT this far so JP likes to rant jokingly about there being many other mammals in the woods to name mountains after every time we climb one! The toughest climb today, though, came right before the shelter where we are staying. The guide book just gives us a mileage reference for, "...north end of rock scramble" and a scramble it was. We hiked nearly straight up stepping on boulders and rock edges for 400 ft of altitude gain right before the shelter. Climbs like this are not unusual, but getting them right before the shelter after a long day can be especially challenging. We managed to fight through the days fatigue and arrived at the Clarendon Shelter at 5 pm. We were surprised to find no one here so we each settled into a space and embarked on our evening routine. By this time the routine is just that, habit, so as I lay writing I want to thank you for your thoughts and prayers. Tomorrow we cross over the point at which we only have 500 miles to go. One of the strangest feelings is to comment that 500 miles seems like a short distance to walk but I guess after nearly 1700 miles, it is a relatively short jaunt. On to Maine!Silverback