Date: 2018-06-07
From: Wilson Creek Shelter

To: Cross Jennings Creek
Miles today: 17.0

Last night I had a hard time sleeping since the air chilled down. My sleeping bag is rated for 59 degrees for summer. However, in the mountains the weather can be cooler. Other nights it's been warm. I ended up ordering a 45 degree bag from REI as well as a liner that adds warmth. On cooler nights I can use both together. On warmer nights I'll just use the liner.  I'll have to wait to Waynesboro before I have them though. I got up around 8 am. Surprisingly Scissors was up eating breakfast already. Sleeping in the shelter had caused her to wake up earlier with the early risers. I ate 2 high protein oatmeals as well as a bagel with peanut butter. I've started to eat more calories as my body has been burning more and more. The only problem is now I need to carry more food weight. Scissors said she usually rolls out around 10 am but thought she'd get out earlier today. We ended up talking to Stealth and Rebel Yell until 10:10. We were planning on hiking to Cross Jennings Creek about 17 miles away. The trail looked pretty gradual today with a lot of road crossing which meant for more chances for trail magic. However, it wasn't the weekend yet.  We were lazy hiking today through each road crossing. Each crossing had a view to the valley below. It followed a scenic route that you could take by car. The trail came to areas with a large number of trees cut down to create a view of the valley. At one view Stealth, Rebel, Scissors, and I hung out overlooking the valley. We got on the conversation about seeing or being around death. Stealth was stationed in Afghanistan and had seen it all the time over there. They were training the local police force to fight the Taliban. Sometimes a whole vehicle would get blown up by an anti tank mine. The base would receive all the wounded and dead. Stealth helped bring those causalities in. Scissors had seen it being a surgical tech at hospitals. They were jobs where you were surrounded by it. I pointed out that in the states death seems to be something hidden away from society. While in other countries like India death is out in the open. People parade their dead loved ones through the streets. The bodies are dressed in colorful garb with large marigold wreaths. At the end of the parade they burn the dead out in the open near a river or holy place. It's not hidden away.Scissors found out that there was a campground near Cross Jennings Creek that offered free shuttle rides. They had a small camp store but also had a kitchen with hamburgers and french fries. For any hungry hiker, food is a great motivator.  We now had a reason to hike faster since they closed shop at 8 pm. It had been a lazy day until now. Scissors pushed hard from that point to make it on time before the place closed. We came to an access road to a shelter with water that was .2 from the trail. There is no point in doing extra miles so we skipped it and found a small stream with water afterwards. It was pretty dirty water but I filtered and treated the water. I shared my aquamira with Scissors as well. We pushed onto the real water source about 3 miles away. When we arrived Stealth and Rebel were already there. We hung out and had a quick lunch. I had a bagel sandwich with black forest ham, sharp cheddar, avocado, and mayonnaise. It was the best sandwich that I had on the trail so far! It had just the right amount of flavor being not too sweet or salty.  We pushed another 6 miles to Jennings Creek. There was a long descent to the creek. I knew I was going to regret tomorrow with a huge climb out of it. When Scissors and I arrived everyone was there. Kazi had already taken a dip in the stream and had been hanging out. We all setup our tents and bear hangs before heading to the campground for burgers. Scissors called them and came back devastated saying that their kitchen was only open until 7 pm. It was 6:55 right now. They never mentioned that over the phone only saying that the camp store closed at 8 pm. All of us were not going to have it. Scissors called the place back and asked if we could have 5 burgers to go. They agreed and sent us a shuttle. Our spirits were lifted! The shuttle showed up 15 minutes later. It zoomed up the mountain road to a campground about 3 miles away. The camp store was filled with grease smoke from 5 sizzling burgers. They came out in a stack with a good portion of fries. We all happily devoured our food. Kazi slammed her burger in 2 minutes. Even I couldn't keep up with that eating speed. We also all bought milkshakes for dessert. It all hit the spot and our tummies were so happy. I also picked up a tube of hydrocortisone at the camp store. I've started to have skin breakouts from poison ivy. It's everywhere on the trail and I can't avoid it. Maybe I'll build an immunity to it if I get it so much. The shop manager gave us a ride back to Cross Jennings Creek and we thanked him for keeping the kitchen open later than usual for 5 starving hikers. Back at the creek we saw a large fire. A woman named Pretzel had started it. We hung out by the fire for a bit talking about the whereabouts of other hikers on the trail. The fire burned nicely from all the dried wood in the area. Like clockwork, hiker midnight rolled in and we all got tired.  Tonight my tent is squashed up next to Scissors tent on a limited pad. A whipper willow just started making noise and I want to throw a rock at it. Luckily the river noise almost overrides its nightly mating calls.