Date: 2019-07-22
From: Trailhead

To: Pine Swamp Shelter
Miles today: 8.0

Before I left for my hike on the AT Shelley said to me ¢I¢m going to be in New York and New Hampshire at different times, tell me where you¢re going to be and I¢ll join you. It¢ll be fun!¢  It took me a couple days to get back to her. I had to think about things. It wasn¢t about someone joining me, as it was I never thought about the hike being fun. I see the AT trail as a metaphor for life, so wondering where in the hell am I?  Since on the trail, I have been finding fun, making fun, but Rita, she is the fun factor. I will miss her. Rita drove GipCGirl and I to the trail-head in Falls Village, CT. There we said goodbye to Rita and started up the trail. We are hiking SoBo to be closer to home when we finish our hike. My pack is heavy, carrying 4 days of food and 1 1/2 liters of water, but I feel good and strong. The trail is pine and leave-laden. Once on the ridge, the trail is gentle and undulating. There are large trees and open forest. The dominant sound is of race cars from a race track down the mountain. From the sound of things, I calculate the track to be a quarter-mile track. The AT app I use mention bears in the area, but I only see toads, centipedes, worms and slugs. Rain is coming and nature knows it. We hear thunder rolling in the distance over the sound of race cars. We stopped for lunch on a rock overlooking the valley. The sky shortly opens up and rain is falling. My pack cover is on and the phone is in plastic. Pretty soon all else else is soaked and wet. Half a mile from the shelter there are lightning strikes over us and there is torrential rain when we arrive at the shelter. There¢s Paul, a day hiker, recovering Catholic and PhD engineer standing in the rain cooking his dinner. He has not yet set up his tent and has no sleeping bag nor tarp nor ground cover. He is not worried in the least. The shelter sleeps 6 to 8 people but Paul prefers to sleep in his tent. We must be so foreign to him. Shortly afterwards a young SoBo hiker arrives in the downpour. Max is walking from Boston to  Harper's Ferry West Virginia and will continue his pilgrimage on the Discovery Trail westward to California. He is raising money for children in Africa and listens to Shakespeare while he walks. He hopes to learn Macbeth verbatim by the time he finishes his walk. He is most concerned about his journal, books and Bible being wet having not enclose them in plastic. Paul offers him a trash bag which he graciously accepts.  I do my usual inquiry. Max has a hammock, but no tarp, no rain gear, no mosquito net, and no tent! And again, he has no concerns. We must be so foreign to these boys.  Max will walk 10 more miles through the pouring rain this evening and down a steep rocky ledge to the next shelter that has a pavilion where he plans to sleep. Paul, in the meantime, sets up his tent in the shelter then takes it out into the forest to sleep with no sleeping bag and no ground tarp. He plans to watch a movie on his phone. GipCGirl sets up her sleeping bag and I set up my hammock under the roof the shelter. We have dry night clothes. Our hiking clothes are wet and hanging in the shelter ready for the next days wear. Rain is expected all day tomorrow. We make peace with the rain and fill up our water bottles. How strange we are.