Date: 2006-04-16
From: Another unnamed camp just beyond Flint Mtn Shelte)

To: Big Bald Shelter
Miles today: 17.3

17.3 Miles / 41 Scraps.Easter Morning. Woke up to what I believed was a confused wild turkey gobbling away at the coming of daylight, and then I realized in my dreary state that it was actually a rooster. Are there wild roosters? I wondered groggily.Just down the trail, I passed by a farm which explained the rooster crowing. I had no idea we were so close to a town.Didn't find any Easter basket this morning but there was a plastic grocery bag hanging from a wooden sign just before Rector Laurel Road. The bag was full of apples and oranges and I could only smile as I grabbed an orange and began to peel it. Ahhh Trail Magic.Came across an awesome knot of thick, dangling vines--maybe 3 or 4 joining together to form one giant loop knot. A few miles later I got to empty my gallon-size Zip-loc bag--overflowing with mostly other people's trash. Coming into the city and seeing a trash receptacle has become one of my favorite sights. Unfortunately this particular receptacle caused me to miss the blaze on the opposite side of the road and wander about an 1/8th of a mile in the wrong direction.The sun was pretty brutal that afternoon and I found myself drinking heavily to compensate for the heat. Less than a mile past the gap a guy named Rout-step walked by in the opposite direction.   "The water source is terrible up ahead," he informed me. Rout-step was probably in his fifties, wearing a safari style hat with mosquito netting resting above the rim. "There's not supposed to be another one for a few miles, so I'm going to go back and look at the one we just passed."I didn't remember even passing a water source. "How far back was that?""Oh--maybe a 100 yards. It didn't look like much but I'm going to check it out." I had close to a liter of water. Normally it might have been enough, but I wasn't sure in this heat so I followed him.42 caught up to us as Rout-step and I were trying to find the best possible drainage spout--of which there were basically none. The water was flowing way to slowly. I finally found a location on the far side of a root system which might work and I removed my stove's wind screen and shaped it into a triangular trough, sticking one end into the water source so that the water would run down my improvised gutter and drain into my Nalgene. About this time 42 and Rout-step were on the opposite side of the root system working on dam. This basically resulted in a dribble of black sludge oozing down my trough."Hey--what'd you guys do over there?""We were making a dam," 42 answered."Well is it working?""Not really.""So put it back the way it was and come check this out."Ever so slowly, the black sludge became brown, and then tan, and finally silty clear. Using my bandanna folded 4 times, I gathered enough water to fill up my nalgene and then passed the bandanna to 42. This whole process wasted close to half an hour and I wasn't exactly thrilled about drinking it. But as it turned out, a guy named Grimes found another much better source that apparently wasn't listed in the "Wingfoot" guide. Grimes also informed us about the 300 mile party which had taken place the night before. As the tale goes, Grimes, Dinosaur, Hellbender, Tecumseh, and Cool Hand had all made it to Rector Laurel Road (just about a mile past where 42 and I had camped the night before) to find Trail Magic glowing in the darkness. Each of them were given a beer, two hamburgers, a slice of cake, and a glass of milk. And then the girls, Hellbender and Dinosaur had proceeded to buy a couple cases of beer and the night just got better.And meanwhile only a mile down the road, 42, Catch-Up, Mule, Jukebox, Bud, Carnivore, Crake and myself all sat unknowingly by the fire, eating dinners of Lipton Pasta, Top Ramen and EZ-Mac, while sipping on bladders full of chemically treated water. Mmmmmhhh. After dumping our sludge-water and refilling, the three of us headed up to the summit of Big Bald Mountain (5500'). With the heat factor, the mountain was an angry monster wanting nothing to do with the likes of us smelly hikers. Yet its summit offered a great 360 degree view. A bit hazy though, as a couple of fires were looming off in the distance.At one time I looked around the summit and noticed 42, Grimes and Cool Hand all talking on cell phones. Big Bald apparently had great reception, but it was a strange sight nonetheless.On the way to the shelter, I passed alone through what seemed an enchanted forest. Beautiful old trees, each seeming to have a mind of its own--its own purpose in life. On the trunk of one of these I saw a winding staircase of cup-shaped mushrooms growing up the side of the bark like silver bells.Big Bald Shelter was a large double-deckered structure with a picnic table. While eating my instant Idahoan Potatoes with everlasting pepperoni slices I also met T. Snake, Fish, and finally the infamous Hellbender and Dinosaur. Also staying the night were Tecumseh, Grimes, Rout-step, Poles, Cool Hand, 42 and myself. I think that's everybody (the amount of hikers has definitely increased during my absence--its becoming more and more difficult to keep up with everyone).After dinner T. Snake and I went to catch the sunset from the bald. Beautiful.Random Register Entry: "You're goin too fastIf you don't have time to stopFor some trail magic"                  --The Tortoise"