Date: 2013-07-12
From: 501 shelter

To: Port Clinton Pavilion 
Miles today: 25.1

day 112It was the first 10minutes and I got a bit turned around. I missed the white blaze turn and walked on a blue blaze trail for a few minutes before another early riser set me back straight. Hopefully that was not an indicator of how today would go. It didn't take me long to pass those who'd gone on the night before as they were late sleepers. The trail became like a choose you own adventure because there were 3 paths paralleling each other. One was leafy, covered in sticks and not used a lot. Another was mostly clear of rocks and stick but muddy. The third one had rocks and roots. They'd occasionally becaome 2 or 1 so you could chose another when they split again. It was really fun picking which terrain I wanted and sometimes the path I chose would be better than the others and sometimes, trickier. It made several hours go by quickly so I soon arrived at the sign to the shelter. It was .3miles to the shelter so I really didn't want to go but I needed water. Hopefully the water was close. A group with a dog was stopped in the trail staring at a huge rattlesnake. It was as wide as a Nalgene bottle and at least 4feet long. The dog was barking at it like crazy and the owner was having a hard time restraining him. They shooed it away before I could get a picture. I really wanted a picture of a rattlesnake, especially one that big. Oh well, I'm sure I'll see more. I got water and continued to the shelter for lunch. It was 1pm and I'd already done 15miles. Wowee!Arrow and Groundhog were there eating lunch. It was nice having company for lunch and I was happy that I was keeping up with them enough that they didn't leave as soon as I got there. We left and I was first because they still had to get water. They didn't catch up for almost an hour until I went up a really steep section. I could almost see the top but it was straight up scraggly rocks. I was about 5miles from Port Clinton when the skies got dark and it started raining. The trees were thick so I didn't get wet right away. I started getting really tires and frustrated that I was still hiking. I started down the steep descent into town, skidding down on the gravelly muddy slope. A couple times I slid and fell right on my bum as if I were sitting. I crossed a bike path to railroad tracks. I was in the open rain now and couldn't find a white blaze but I wandered in the right direction. I saw buildings which meant town. As I entered town, I smelled the distinct aroma of pot which I thought was weird for a whole town. I passed by several people and checked my map at the intersection in the pouring rain. The trail went to the right but the pavilion was to the left. Some people on a porch stared at me as I passed and a guy yelled out, "Why do I have 2 sticks?" I tiredly replied, "Because I have 2 hands." The group roared with laughter even though I wasn't trying to be funny or sarcastic. I smiled politely as I stood there in the rain, answering their other questions. Finally I plodded on, noticing the blue blazes on the telephone poles. Yay! I had something to follow so I wasn't just walking blindly. After 15minutes I saw a gravel parking area to the left and a tiny pavilion. I became more and more disappointed the closer I got as it was super small. I sat down at the picnic table out of the rain and looked around my surroundings. I realized there was a huge pavilion looking building across the street and joyfully shouldered my pack once more to get to the nicer pavilion. There were a few tents set up inside amongst a few picnic tables and benches. I took my wet boots and socks off and intended to make dinner but ended up just sitting there for awhile. I met Blood Orange and Wooden Spoon. I made a pasta side with tuna and I tried to eat it all but I was too tired to make spoon-food-mouth connection. I set up my bed on benches that were pushed together and waited for my parents and dog to arrive. They said the Gps said Eta was ~11:30pm. That was late enough so I tried to sleep some and just have my phone on vibrate to wake me. Around 1am I awoke to a text that they had arrived so I waited on my bed. I saw my mom approaching with my dog so I made the clicky noise I trained Bailey to. She walked up the stairs and I could see her ears perk up in the light. My mom was asking her, "Where's Kelly?". Bailey came right over to me and was so happy she wiggled and whined. I tried to keep her a little quiet because her tags jingled and people were sleeping. My mom set up her bed next to me while my dad chose to sleep in the car. Bailey snuggled down in between my mom and I. Bailey woke up early, as soon as the first hiker stirred. She was all goofy, excited to see that finding her human wasn't a dream. I tried to sleep in some before packing up and saying hi to my dad. I was just going to slackpack some so we headed out to breakfast at Cabela's.