Date: 2009-08-02
From: Culvers Gap

To: Unionville, NY
Miles today: 23.1

Last night turned out to be absolutely brutal. I had received a ¢weather report¢ from the bartender at Gyp¢s Tavern, telling me that the rain wasn¢t supposed to come until this afternoon. Therefore, I decided to cowboy camp last night. But, the mozzies were so horrible that I asked Sweet Lou, who had a two-man tent and had offered to take me in if the bugs were bad, if I could sleep in his tent. It was one of these ¢Brokeback Mountain¢ deals, with two guys sleeping in close proximity within one tent, so we both made sure that we kept distance and just went to sleep. At 5 AM, I awoke to the downpour of rain. Realizing that my stuff was still outside, I frantically got out of the tent and quickly packaged everything together. I then awoke again at 7:23 AM. Dah Wah He was supposed to wake us up at 6:30 for our slack pack ride at 7:30, but this did not happen and we were forced to scamper and get all of our stuff together in a short seven minutes. I was still ¢hungover¢ from all of the bug bites and lack of sleep, but managed to fight through it. Butch was on time. We dropped off our belongings with him and ran off into the woods, feeling as lightweight as ever. Macaroni, Dah Wah He, Sweet Lou, and I stuck together for the first 5.4 miles, cruising at a considerable pace and chatting about various top 5 movies of all time and their associated genres. My top pics were: Good Morning Vietnam, Cinema Paradiso, Dead Poets Society, Good Will Hunting, and Blow. We hung out for a while on top of Sunrise Mountain. We saw neither a sunrise nor a glimpse as to the countryside below. The only thing that was saw was a white, moisture-saturated cloud that had continued to dump more water on the ground. The Mashipacong Shelter was our next stop, as the rain was coming down as quickly as I¢ve seen a storm rain. To take advantage of the moment, I made a trip to the privy to do my morning business. Before I left, however, I asked (as is custom on the trail) Sweet Lou how the privy was. He said that it¢s okay, but that is smells a bit. I had intended to go anyway, but it¢s always nice to know the condition beforehand. I found out, through first-hand experience, that it was the worst privy that I have ever been in. Not that it was a bad privy, but that it stank so bad that I think spores were entering my lungs, which was the reason why I left feeling sick to my stomach and on a very strange high. I saw that someone had actually defecated on the floor of the privy and that the air was entirely trapped within the privy, withholding much-needed ventilation to aid in the cleansing process. Upon leaving the privy, I smelled for the next 30 minutes. Sweet Lou just thought that it was him, so he didn¢t say anything, but he then confirmed that it was an equally bad experience. Man, that was disgusting. Everyone else in the shelter departed, while Sweet Lou and I hung out, waiting for the rain to die down. We were going to get soaked regardless, but it was the act of hiking knowing that rain would soak every pore of your body which prompted us to stay behind. I tried to text my cousins at that point to find out the extent of the storm, but I suppose the texts didn¢t send immediately. In total, we waited around about 1.5 hours - maybe even 2 hours. We had already been hiking in it for a few hours. It proved to be a good decision, as the rain, again, stopped about 15 minutes after we had begun hiking. Man, we were 2 for 2 in predicting weather. Since the rain had stopped, all of the water had to go somewhere: DOWN! During many of our climbs, the water became a 6-inch river, pouring down the mountain. We kept joking, as Pennsylvania and New Jersey are not known for their water sources, ¢Well, at least we don¢t have to search for water!¢ But, it did make our boots absolutely soaked to the bone. My Keen shoes were starting to rip again due to the rain and I¢m probably going to have to call up Keen or Altrec.com again, as Megan Ulrich won¢t be there to save me this time. We met up with Jungli, Blue Eyes, and Gnarley and started hiking with them for the last 7 miles. We were close to the High Point Monument, something that resembles the George Washington Monument, but on a much smaller scale - right in the middle of the forest. After the sun had come out, the trail turned into a thick mud - almost like quick sand - and it was difficult to get your foot back out once you stepped into the wrong place. Towards the end of the trip into Unionville, we all had to ford our first river, which had been raging to the point where the barreling water split an island and the force of it created its own path on the other side. I¢m not sure if it happened today or sometime before, but the force of the water had swept away the bridge that we were supposed to use. It had turned out to be an eventful day and we were quite surprised as to how much it really did rain. We also had some boardwalk hiking, as the marshland proved to be too saturated with water. It was reminiscent of my times in Costa Rica - especially at La Selva Biological Field Station. Making our way to Unionville Road, we called up Butch who graciously came and picked up our crew. We were told that we couldn¢t hike the next mile section because an F-2tornado had come through a few days earlier and ripped down many large trees, making the trail impassable. Back at Mayor Dick¢s house, we blended in with the 20+ thru-hiker size and enjoyed a wonderful meal together. As is custom with the Mayor¢s house, Mayor Dick ensures that all new AT thru-hikers watch an inspirational video on Paul Potts, a recent winner of Britain¢s Got Talent. He explained that this has nothing to do with the Appalachian Trail, but everything to do with life. Paul Potts, a cell phone salesman, lacks in confidence, has mangled teeth, but a passion for opera. When Simon Cowell and crew expect him to belt out a horrible tune, they were surprised at what came out and how pure his voice was. Paul sweeps through the competition in humble fashion, becoming a fan favorite in the process. In his last opera performance, he sings the musical piece ¢Vincer2¢. In Italian, Vincer2 means ¢I will win¢. Mayor Dick tells us that if there is anything that we take away from this house, it must be ¢Vincer2!¢, the belief that ¢I will win.¢ Later on in the evening, as I was jotting down a few notes from the past few days, I heard this guy come in who was speaking in a British accent. I looked on over and had to do a double-take because it turned out to be my buddy Guernsey, who had told me that he would be taking off, trying to finish the trek by the 21st of September. Having a wee bit of a drinking problem (just a wee one), he has taken several zero days along the way and, somehow and in some way, I managed to catch him. I put down my notes and went on out and we immediately began drinking heavily and chatting away. He was already drunk as can be, but this didn¢t really matter for him. Some of the others came and sat out on the patio with us, but we were the last ones standing, finishing every beer in the cooler and finally getting to bed at 3:45 am. I normally do not indulge in such irresponsible drinking behaviour (hehe), but being a Scot, I felt that I had to fulfill my duty at some point.