Date: 2017-10-03
To: Campbell Shelter
Miles today: 15.4
Weather: clear sky

10/3Campbell Shelter15.4 milesBoy howdy did I not feel great when I woke up. Headache, bloody nose, backache, and cramps. Most of my discomfort was due to the elderly mattress and room heating system. Is it possible to stagger from a prone position to a seated position? It felt like I was staggering before I even left the bed. I groaned and made my way to the bathroom, where I noticed that I was also sporting a seriously tall hairdo. I rolled my puffy eyes at my reflection. I pulled on clothes and experimented with my buff to try to cover and/or compress my Mohawk. Giving up on any semblance of attractiveness or respectability, I jammed it over my head and left for the motel dining room. Nobody looked very hard at me, for which I was grateful. I ate a variety of thinks but mostly I caffeinated. Then I trekked back to the room to pack and hopefully turn back into a human being, or a least a hiker. Dropping off my keycard, I headed out on the trail again. I was surprised to find myself holding my own against dayhikers climbing the hill out of town. Usually the smug buggers breeze by me and my freshly loaded down pack. I sweated but I apparently was moving faster than I thought. They finally turned around at an overlook and I had the woods to myself again. I'd forgotten the extent of the rock scrambling on the ridge. I hadn't forgotten the pretty overlooks. It was another clear blue day, warm but not uncomfortable. I didn't race down the trail but I moved all right. At lunchtime I stopped at Angel Gap and ate on a rock where I've lunched before. It was a good rock, and good baguette and Brie. I ate in peace, bothered neither by hikers nor flies. The trail has been remarkably bug free of late. Only for a couple of hours in the late afternoon do the eye gnats come out. At Lambert's Meadow I found stagnant puddles at the shelter water source. It wasn't quite three yet, so I decided to walk on to the next shelter where I hoped the water situation would be better. I ate some snacks and rested until three, then heaved my pack up off the shelter floor once again. Tinker Cliffs are some of my favorite dramatic sights on the trail. There's a half mile walk along the cliff edge. The cliff itself is a little offset from the bulk of the mountain, divided by a deep cleft. Despite the lateness of the hour I took the time to stop and appreciate the view. I was getting tired and the sun was setting before I finally made it to the shelter. When I asked about water they said there was none. I asked if it were really dry or just not great water. Luckily it wasn't actually completely dry. I got two liters of silty water out of the water source. To be fair it's obviously normally a pretty sizable stream, not just some puddles between slabs of rock. But beggars can't be choosers, and right now I'm a beggar for sure. I was contemplating skipping dinner but my shelter mates offered me a freshly made burrito with rice and beans and sausage in it. The chef (seriously, he went to culinary school) toasted the tortillas over his stove flame so the burritos were warm and a little crisped. It was delicious. I thanked them for the trail magic. I'm about to settle in for the night on the new sleeping pad. Wish #6 some luck. Apparently it needs it.