Date: 2009-04-16
From: Jerry Cabin Shelter

To: campsite about 2 mi. past Sams Gap
Miles today: 18.3

Truckin' and I were the first to leave the shelter at a few minutes past 8am! Yay! A new record for me! Truckin' had gotten up at 6:25 to go to the bathroom and was startled to see Minnesota Smith pacing back and forth in front of the shelter with his staff (or jousting stick)! She went back to bed for awhile.    We ended up hiking all day together, which was another first for me. Early in the morning, we came to a sidepath with a sign reading "Big Rocks." Should we check it out? Sure... The only thing was that there were white blazes in both directions! We continued on and never saw the big rocks, nor did we end up back on the trail we started on, even though this path was looping around. We saw many distinctive bear paw prints in the mud, which was neat. Finally, I pulled out my compass, which confirmed that the direction the path was taking us, was in fact north. That was a relief! Just before we reached the Shelton gravesite, we met a man hiking south whose girlfriend's ancestor was buried in the small plot! Then, we met three woman hikers who had thru-hiked in 2007. (Boo-boo, Blue Yonder, and another woman). They were very friendly and Truckin' and I enjoyed chatting with them for a few minutes. When I told them my name, they said they knew me! Apparently, Hellbender told them we were not far behind. Hellbender was suffering from sciatic pain the day before and these ladies were concerned for him. As we descended into Devil Fork Gap, I had my own attack of nerve pain. I had to keep stopping to take off and put back on my back. We stepped over the first style we had come to on the trail, walked through a meadow, and went back into the woods. We decided that we would take a lunch break on Frozen Knob/Lick Rock, but it turned out to be different than we had imagined, so we just sat down on a rotting log on top of a wooden knoll.    We reached Hogback Ridge Shelter around 3:30, where we found Storyteller resting with knee pain. He hoped that we would stay there for the night, but we were hoping to get in a few more miles yet. We took a break, Truckin' graciously offered to fill my Nalgene with water that was 0.3 miles away (when she went to get hers), and Storyteller gave me a packcover that he thought was Hellbender's. We took off around 4, and reached Sams Gap by 5, where we walked under an overpass, and dumped our garbage off in the waste cans. A pick-up truck with two men slowed down and pulled over while we did so, and then slowly (ever so slowly) pulled away as we crossed the interstate to find the trail. I did not have a good feeling about this, especially as it was getting late, knowing we would have to camp relatively close... We saw a garter snake on the way up the hill, which gave Truckin' a scare. She really does not like snakes! We were both getting tired and agreed to stop at the first possible campsite, but when that opportunity arrived, I felt it was still too close to the road. We continued to the top of the hill (which was quite steep!) and found a perfect camping spot! Just below us was a beautiful meadow, and we had plenty of time to set up our shelters, make dinner, watch the sunset, and make a fire! Yeah... the two girls got their own fire going with wet kindling (the sprinkling of alcohol and the fanning of Truckin's frisbee definitely helped, but still...!) Who needs those guys anyway? Lonesome Buffalo walked up the hill and down into the meadow to his favorite oak tree to watch the sunset and chatted with us for a few minutes on his return. Then, we retreated to our shelters, and enjoyed a quiet, peaceful sleep with no snoring!