Date: 2012-06-14
From: Wise Shelter Camping Area

To: Hurricane Mtn Shelter
Miles today: 10.8
Weather: scattered clouds

Recovery DayStayed in bed late leaving camp at 10:30 am. The three boys rose as I was packing up camp and started debating how they were going to get resupplies at Dickey's Gap, should they stay here or there and when or who was to go for resupply. I was heading for Hurricane Mtn Shelter. I needed to take it a bit easy today as last two days had been rough.As I had fallen asleep last night, you could hear a strange mixture of sounds out in the dark. There were coyotes mixed together with what sounded like cows mooing. Ok, that's weird!!! Well, it didn't take much hiking outside of camp to see where the mooing had come from. As we went through another set of stiles, there was a herd of long-horn steer happily grazing and chewing cud. Mystery solved. It was a nice 3 mile coast into Scales with beautiful views. The Scales is a place where ranchers used to take their rounded up fat steer to weigh them before driving them into market. They would make sure to weigh them BEFORE driving them to slaughter because they weighed more that way and brought more money. It is a nicely mown area with corrals, bathroom facilities, and water. There also appeared to be horses and mules there used to ride on the local horse trail. We met some really nice people at the Scales including a group of woman who were out hiking and camping learning how to rough it as a woman. LOL You might say a few of them had a million questions for me including hiking with a dog.After the Scales, we headed back up to 5000¢ and Pine Mountain. Just as we hit the highest point we walked through another stile and out into the open. And there it was that low rumbling sound again. I looked at Bandit and said ¢Here they come!¢ And sure enough, two fighter pilots were once again headed our way. As they flew directly over head, the noise was so painful. We arrived at the Old Orchard Shelter and relaxed while having a 1.5 hour lunch break. We were here alone for quite a long time before the three boys finally caught up with us and also had lunch. After they, headed out, a SOBO family arrived for lunch. They had a cute little white female dog with them. Bandit tried to be a tough guy and bark at her arrival and she immediately put him in his place as everyone burst out laughing. Never mess with a female right Bandit!! We had a nice canine/backpack conversation before Bandit and I proceeded on down from Pine Mtn to Fox Creek and Hwy 603. At the road crossing, we caught up with the three boys again. They were going to walk on down to the parking lot to see if they could find out more information about resupply at Dickey¢s Gap and Troutdale. Bandit and I immediately headed across Hwy 603 as the day was growing late and we still had 5 miles to Hurricane Shelter. It was going to be a good climb up there. On the opposite side of Hwy 603 there was a couple of men my age applying first aid to one of the men¢s blisters along side Fox Creek. Bandit jumped in the creek backpack and all to cool down while I talked to the non-blister fellow about hiking with a dog. My there were a lot people curious about hiking with dogs the past few days!Shortly before reaching the top of Iron Mountain, we stopped for a break. We met a nice older couple from Florida who were slack packing this year¢s section hike. We had a really nice conversation various parts of the AT. The three boys passed us as we were packing up to move on. We managed to reach Hurricane Mtn Shelter around 7:00 p.m. and found the three boys at the campsite for the shelter. The campsite was down below the shelter along side the river. Bandit and I setup our and tent and then we ate dinner with the boys. Once again it had been a low outside news day as I never got any cellular service all day. I used my SPOT to let Dave know I was still ok and headed off to bed.I am really glad that I had purchased a nice fleece coat for Bandit to wear at night to stay warm. It would get down between 40-50 degrees at night depending on our elevation. LOL Funny how hot flashes when you are freezing in your sleep bag are a beautiful thing!! :-)