Date: 2004-08-12
From: Melville Nauheim Shelter

To: Story Spring Skelter
Miles today: 17.5
Weather: overcast clouds

Start Melville Nauheim ShelterDestination Story Spring ShelterBy the time I got up this morning, the wind had died down. It blew all night long and I kept waiting for the rain to come, but it never did. For some reason, the first part of the morning was a strain just to put one foot in front of the other. The muscles in my back kept tightening up causing an enormous amount of pain. I don't know whether I had packed my pack differently this morning or what, but whatever I did it was the wrong thing. Mid morning I passed a couple of section hikers taking a break on the side of the trail. Their friendly questions gave me all the reason I needed to take a break. One of them had helped put up a log cabin several years ago, so I spent quite a bit of time listening to how it went together, since I am going to be putting up a log home here shortly. After that break the trail seemed to go somewhat easier. Just before lunch a north bounder pulls up in back of me. It is none other than Papa Bear who I had met on the trail last year! He is from Alabaster, Alabama and is out here finishing up the trail he missed last year when injuries took him home. For the next hours and miles we visited back and forth which made the time seem to fly by. Papa Bear has this wonderful southern accent and a deep bass voice. It is funny because people up here think that I have a southern accent! Then just as we got to the shelter where we had decided to stop for lunch, the rain started to pour. Gusts of winds kept blowing into the shelter as the rain came down. We ate lunch, took off our boots and settled down in to wait for the weather to clear. Within just minutes, I could see my breath as I exhaled. The rain kept coming down, and we kept waiting. There were several other hikers in the shelter with us. They were all southbounders, and filled us in on the trail ahead of us. After a nice hour break, the rain finally let up, so we hiked out. There was a group of trail maintainers working on the trail. I have to admire these people who get out here and rework the trail to make it less hazardous. I saw the first signs of moose on the trail today, a big pile of moose dung in the middle of the trail. The rest of the day I spent looking left and right hoping to catch a glimpse of that animal. By mid afternoon, I stopped to get water at one of the shelters on the trail. For an instant I looked longingly at the shelter, but I was determined to get some more miles in today in spite of the rain and muddy trail. I could not figure if that was rain coming down or rain dropping from the trees. Finally the end of the day came, and for the last hour I hiked in a splattering of rain, I was soaked through and through. My fingers looked like I had been in water for hours. The nice surprise of the day came when a familiar voice called out from the dark recesses of the shelter, "Hi, Bumpkin!" It was none other than Katydid and Shagbark. Because of the rainy conditions with word of more torrential rain tonight, I decided not to set my tent up, but choose to stay in the shelter. The shelter was plenty big enough for the four of us. We all sat around eating our supper and talking back and forth. Then just before dark closed in, in hikes three southbound section hikers, who asked if they could squeeze in the shelter with us, rather than tent because of the coming storm. I wish now I had of set my tent up. We are stuffed in here like rows of sardines, with only a few inches between us. Of course we all smell pretty terrible. A mixture of damp smelly feet, sweaty clothes and dirty body! Odors, not that any of us can help how we smell. I told the guys to close their eyes while I changed out of my wet cold hiking clothes and into some dry things. What little modesty I have left I want to try to keep.Total miles 17.5