Date: 2016-06-18
To: Music and poetry around the campfire
Miles today: 0.0

USF 293 to Laurel Fork ShelterOur planned 13.3 miles is close to yesterday¢s mileage, though we¢re certainly not slack-packing today. Our packs are fully loaded with food for the next five days plus all the gear we left in our room while we hiked yesterday. We¢re thankful for the fairly easy ups and downs between 3,500 and 4,000 feet for the first 10 miles or so.We take a break at Moreland Gap Shelter and meet Hardback, a thru hiker originally from East Nashville, where X¢s son lives. He likes to carry a book in his pack for break-time reading. He started at Springer with a hardcover book, which earned him his trail name. X takes a picture of the shelter to text home to a friend who¢s inquired about them. The reply: "You actually sleep in that?!" (If they only knew how appreciative a hiker is when the rains come and these little 3-sided structures offer up a dry place to sleep.)In the afternoon we begin a steep four-mile descent to Laurel Fork Gorge. Close to the junction for the high water route for the AT, we¢re stopped by a couple with questions about the white blazes (marking the AT) and the blue blazes (indicating the alternate route). We find out they¢re from Memphis, a 90-minute drive from northeast Mississippi where we live. After descending an almost vertical boulder staircase, we enjoy the cool walk in front of Laurel Falls. Just past the falls, X spots a Germantown Marathon t-shirt on a passing day hiker, and we meet another couple from the Memphis area. What are the odds?Although we pass tent sites along Laurel Fork, Suuz isn¢t thrilled about collecting drinking water downstream from the pool below the falls, which was crowded with people of all ages enjoying a Saturday afternoon dip. We continue along the river, then make a steep climb up toward Laurel Fork Shelter. At a confusing trail junction, Suuz pulls out her phone and finds the correct trail to the shelter on Guthook¢s AT Hiker app. This same trail junction gave the Troverts fits in 2012, and X is glad for Suuz's snazzy Guthook app.The few tent sites around the shelter aren¢t quite level, but X finds one that will do. Though Guthook says the water source is a ¢cascading stream behind the shelter,¢ Suuz needs a trekking pole for balance on the long, steep trail down to the stream. She¢s rewarded with a small waterfall and splashes cold water on her face and arms after collecting water to filter.Hardback, Puck, Zeroni and Lady join us later, deciding to spend the night here after swimming at Laurel Falls. Puck starts a fire in the fire ring and the evening entertainment begins. Hardback and Zeroni take turns on Hardback¢s backpacker guitar, a recent birthday present from his mother. They play and sing some familiar songs--the Beatles¢ ¢Blackbird¢ and Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young¢s ¢4+ 20¢ and others. Puck recites poems he¢s memorized while hiking, starting with The Owl and the Pussycat, enlisting the rest of us to sing the refrain. Then he amazes us with lengthy renditions of Tennyson¢s Ulysses and Kipling¢s If. Suuz tries in vain to remember a favorite short poem to recite. She and X promise to be ready with entertainment at the next campfire.It¢s well past hiker midnight when we bed down in our tent. Much to Suuz's chagrin, X sets her phone alarm for 5AM. Tomorrow will be the highest mileage day of this year¢s hike, and she hopes we can get an early start out of camp. We drift off to sleep imagining what tomorrow's 15.8 miles might bring, with last thoughts of the lovely campfire experience tonight with new friends at this pretty spot perched above Laurel Creek. The magic of the AT...Dr. Suuz and X