Date: 2003-06-13
From: Peters Mt Shelter

To: PA 443
Miles today: 23.5

Early on, Itchy Foot warns me to be careful on the rocks - it's Friday the 13. "Good," I declare. "My lucky day." My longest day too, it turns out. I will end up doing 23.5 miles, though I didn't set out to do that. My right foot, though still achy, is getting no worse. I am taking it off the "watch" list. Ben's magic "menthol solution" has healed my problematic little toe.It's also a very hot and humid day, and though we get an early start, we are all lagging before noon. At Clark's Creek, Itchy Foot and I take a break in the shade. We sit on the boulders with Slickrock, who is waiting for a friend."Is this a romantic-type friend?" I ask. She smiles shyly, allows it is."Good," I say. "Everyone needs a little sparkle on the AT."Past Clark's Creek, we find a confusing set of blazes and follow what appears to be the white ones. Shortly, they begin to fade to lavender. We're walking uphill. We inspect them closely - again, are they white paint over blue blazes, or blue on white? Aaargh!!!I decide on the former and we push on, uphill. Soon, these give way to sure-enough blue blazes. "We're wrong," says Itchy Foot. He turns and strides out downhill. I can't keep up. We find the right Trail, and then that is the last I see of him all day. He hates to put a foot wrong.After awhile, Notes catches me and we chat on our usual diverse set of topics, keeping us from brooding on the draining heat. Some military planes scream by the ridge. Notes identifies them as Warthogs. "Tank killers," he says. There is a base nearby.It's a hot slog in the long green tunnel today, uninspiring except for the pleasant company and the antlered buck in velvet we spot grazing unconcernedly, quite close.All of a sudden, the trail grows dark and needle-y from the hemlocks. A sparkling, whitewater Rausch Creek runs beside us. Gorgeous, NC-esque river campsites dot the banks. Maybe I'll camp tonight.As it turn out, I will. Rausch Gap shelter is dark, wet inside and full of ticks, though the spring outside is fantastic. Itchy Foot, though ahead of me all day, is not here. We figure he walked right past the shelter turn. Ha! Serves him right for up and leaving me! He doesn't wear his glasses while hiking, and walked past the small sign.Upon arriving, I take a short nap and then awake to change to camp clothes and wash in the icy spring water.I look up to see Just Do It pointing at me, and a very sweaty hiker rolling towards. It looks like, no, it can't be - it's my thru-hiker friend Trail Trooper, one of my early AT mentors. He figured out where I was from the internet.He has set off hiking from the shelter ahead, 501 shelter, with some Trail magic goodies for me. That merits a hug, even if he is drenched and nasty. After all, I can't smell like roses.Trooper has to get off-Trail tomorrow, so he sits awhile to cool off and chat with my friends as I repack my gear. Then we set off northbound towards his car. We hike and yak and catch up on the news. He just saw two rattlesnakes in the rocks today. He tells me that until he met Ben, he wasn't certain if I was really in this area of the AT. Other hikers ahead had steered him wrong on my estimated whereabouts. Speaking of wrong, we spy Itchy Foot camped alone by the Rausch Creek. He stopped about a mile past the shelter turnoff, and decided not to go back. Trooper and I clock along gabbing, when all of a sudden we've covered six miles and it's getting dark. Time for a campsite. We find one where Trooper can hang his Hennessy Hammock but still has flat spots for my tent. We get a tiny fire going. And then it starts to rain. Sigh, I thought this would be a dry day. The rain puts out our little campfire.Tomorrow is predicted hot and humid as well. But after my longest day on the AT, I'm not even sore. Trooper, who did 23.5 right out of the truck, is. He's blistered the base of his toes. "That'll toughen them up for the Long Trail," he says. He is going to do that tough, 270-mile trail in August, and has only 21 days to do it in. It took me and Clyde 27 days, and that nearly killed us. But Trooper is a monster hiker. I believe he will pull it off. For the first night, I sleep hot. My bag is way too efficient. The silk liner is sufficient. Summer has arrived.