Date: 2018-07-19
From: Pine Swamp Shelter

To: Riga Shelter
Miles today: 18.7
Weather: clear sky

I was still irritated with Cole this morning and I¢m certain he was equally unimpressed with me. He treats the outdoors like his bedroom  and half the time just drops things where he finishes with them. This is how he loses things so frequently. This morning he had the contents of his food bag scattered about as he searched for a particular snack. Once found, the contents laid there waiting for him to feel like gathering them up.This morning I told him that from now on he will have to pay to replace whatever he loses. He had a smart alec comment and I responded in kind. I asked him to finish packing up and be on the trail in 10 minutes.There was very little left to do as I had already packed up most of his things and half taken down the tent. I headed out grumbling and swatting as a thick mass of hungry blood suckers tormented me. I hiked slowly. Two hours later Cole had still not caught up and I was out of water. I sat down by a stream and waited. And waited. Eventually he appeared leisurely strolling down the trail. I  was relieved. We gathered and filtered water then continued on. At the next road crossing there was an auto sales shop that had a pop machine out front. It had a sign on it addressed to hikers that said ¢Coke machine works¢. Good to know! They had a bench for us to sit on and a crate for the empty cans. We sat, rested and drank our pop. All irritability had drained away.Further down the trail we had another long and lovely walk along side a river. Benches were strategically placed along the path to provide resting areas with views of the water. I wanted to sit, but just kept moving. When I was in the process of researching the AT, I read something that I either took out of context or completely misunderstood. Or I suppose it could also just have been a hoax. It said that there was only one bench on the entire length of the trail. I had passed this information on to Cole. We quickly discovered that this was just not the case. In areas that are popular for day hikers we often find a lot of benches. When we do find a bench, Cole likes to tease me. ¢Oh look mom, another bench.¢ If I had been a day hiker, I definitely would have stopped and sat on every single one of those benches and admired the view. I may even have brought a book and enjoyed a lengthy repose. But, I am not a day hiker. I am a thru hiker and I need to keep moving.We paused briefly for trail magic, a gator aid and a snack, and then we found a lovely spot overlooking a waterfall to have our lunch. We are still eating PB and J and enjoying it.Near the end of the day, not far from our destination, we had a very steep rocky uphill climb. While stopped at the trail magic a south bounder had mentioned a spectacular view that we would be coming up to. She said it was the best view of any we had seen yet. As I climbed and climbed, I silently hoped this was it. I could hear voices at the top. Finally I reached the summit and I was not disappointed. Was it the best view I had seen to date? I don¢t think so, but it was pretty spectacular. A group of day hikers was chatting with two section hikers. I took pictures and joined the conversation. The day hikers gave us fresh fruit and cheese to lighten their load before descending. Cole arrived behind me and we took more photos. The sun was getting low in the sky and it was time to get moving. There were two shelters close by spaced only 1.2 miles apart. The section hikers were headed for the second shelter. Cole and I were headed for the first. Cole went on ahead and I followed. When I arrived at the side trail to the shelter, Cole had set up the tent right at the trail head. In a tenting area near the shelter there was a ring of tall tents set up. Clearly not thru or section hikers. From the tents came the loud and boisterous sound of young people.¢Oh¢ I said.¢Should we go to the next shelter?¢¢I¢m too sore.¢Guthooks indicated that there was a beautiful view from the shelter so I went to check it out. Getting there involved a rock hop over a stream. The shelter too was full of teenagers.When we settled in for the night the group must have gathered by the shelter and they were far enough away that we couldn¢t hear them. Once we were sound asleep, they returned to their tents where they proceeded to shout back and forth to each other waking us up.¢I want to move.¢ Cole said sleepily.¢It¢s too late now.¢We laid there late into the night listening to crude humour and immature ramblings. Eventually they fell silent and we dozed off.