Date: 2004-06-01
From: Niday Shelter

To: Four Pines Hostel
Miles today: 15.9
Weather: broken clouds

Knowing it was going to be longer miles with two very significant climbs and descents we didn't lollygag around too long this morning - by 7:25 we were on the way. As usual I took it slowly out of the starting gate to give my muscles plenty of time to warm. Five miles later we came to the Audie Murphy Memorial. It's a name with which I was not familiar but perhaps should have been. Audie Murphy was one of the most decorated WWII heroes and a well-known actor. He was killed at age 47 in an airplane crash close to the site where the memorial was created.More walking, more ups and downs, more leapfrogging with fellow hikers I Need A Hug, Scarecrow and Mad Hatter. Ursa Minor's pack is heavier than April Shower's or mine and we keep telling her we're going to clean it out for her, partly in jest of course. Today, I Need A Hug lost an eyeglass screw. Ursa Minor said "wait just a second" and sure enough, pulled out a small glass repair kit! So she's saying "I told you so." However, she carried something 700 miles which I Need A Hug can buy at the next town stop. Ursa Minor doesn't hike with glasses, I Need A Hug does; SHE should be carrying it. :-) I need to sort through my pack again. I've picked up a few odds and ends I don't need to be humping across these mountains.Today's destinational highlight was Dragon's Tooth at 3020'. This is a gigantic rock configuration that looks like -- a dragon's tooth, obviously. The 3.5 miles from a shelter to this spot took us along the ridgeline of rocky Cove Mountain giving us sneak previews of the vista awaiting us from the tooth. Because of the constant rock skipping it certainly felt like more than 3.5 miles but it was an invigorating, gorgeous and memorable hike. I was the first of our trio there and found the path to squeeze between slabs of rock to get up on top. Scarecrow, I Need A Hug and Mad Hatter all joined us later on. I snapped some token pictures, some of which will show up on this site when I send the photo card to Jeff in a couple weeks.Of course what goes up must come down. But this particular descent presented us with the most difficult, treacherous and dangerous part of the trail so far. It is the closest I've come to climbing (descending in this case) the rockface of a mountain. Slabs on two-inch-wide rock are standing perpendicular and it was necessary to find footfalls wide enough for our boots to land. In two spots there are handles pounded into the rocks to use as a ladder. All this is challenging enough. Now add the dimension of a 25-30 pound backpack, giving momentum to the direction one is falling (I mean leaning!). Well, let me just say we were all glad our mothers weren't watching.In my handbook it says Four Pines Hostel "may not be your place of choice if looking for quiet and solitude". I understand why: we're all on an emotional high from climbing and descending Dragon Tooth and living to tell about it!!Joe is a great host, and it isn't at all rowdy or noisy. We three set our tents up on the hill behind the three-car garage which serves as bunkhouse for the hikers, but as the night progressed the weather started changing for the worse. The wind was whipping my tent walls pretty severely and within five minutes changed directions and continued whipping just as strongly from the opposite side. An hour or so later Joe said there were tornado warnings. When the sky started looking funny to me and raindrops started falling I said that was it - I was going indoors. Ursa Minor followed suit; April Showers was still in the shower. When she emerged she decided to stay put and sure enough, the sky cleared, the wind died down and she had a gorgeous night up on the hill under the stars. Hindsight is 20-20 but I've spent enough nights in my basement in Minnesota watching weather reports of tornado spottings all around me. I wasn't gong to sit outside up on the hill watching it all happen from a tent!So it's 10 o'clock, all is quiet, garage door is lifted and wide open and I'm on a cement floor (no cots left) on my luxurious full-length Thermarest, tucked into my bag, comfy as can be watching the night sky become bespeckled with stars and moonlight. It's been a splendid day. It's now a splendid night.