Date: 2006-06-18
From: Homeplace Restaurant

To: Homeplace Restaurant
Miles today: 12.4

Oh well, I made it to Catawha, Homeplace Restaurant. I'm writing in my tent, on their lawn. Not only did we dine on a sumptuous Father's Day feast, we got to pitch tents here! How's that!Last night, a bunch of us got to Pickle Branch. Locomotion, Porkchop, Jackson, and I tented at a great spot up the hill from the shelter. Had a kick-ass thru hiker fire, thanks Loco. I know there were hikers staged up and down the trail, shooting for Homeplace today. Unfortunately, or not, I didn't get here until 4:30. I left camp at 6:40, very early for me, wink. We had a crazy hike today, up and then down a fature called Dragons Tooth. It was as heinous as its name. I huge rock formation jutting up out of the mountain at the ridge. There were even two sets of iron ladder bars, some of the drops were so deep. Crazy.I was getting seriously dehydrated, and knew there was a store coming up. I asked a day hiker, and he directed me down the blue blaze trail to the parking lot and out the road. I asked Harpo to watch my bag, in exchange for bringing back a Gatorade. I figured I'd be gone 23-40 minutes, wrong! The blue blaze trail was about a mile long. It took me 1.25 hours down and back up. Met a nice couple, the Stoneagers, at the convenience store. Anyways, here's the kicker. Had I walked another mile or so on the trail, I'd have been at the road crossing on the other side of the store. Darn it. I needed the electrolytes anyways. When I got back to my pack, which by being so damn far from the road, it didn't need watching anyway. I learned about the whole parade of hiker buds that had passed. As Harpo was leaving (thank you lady_, Stretch and Jonah showed up. They waited with me a bit and then we took off.It was another six miles of up and down, that Porkchop appropriately named "Stegasaurus Ridge." You can see it from over tent spots. Locomotive counted 13 ups and downs. I wasn't the only one with hydration issues today. It was 85 and sunny. At one point, Stretch, Jonah, and I took a break on a bridge. Chilled for about an hour. Jonah played his recorder and we drank lots of water. Later we found out Mash ran across a rattlesnake at the same spot. Anyways, staggered down the road to Catawha to find the part crew had yellow blazed here (hitched) and headn't walked the ridge, a good idea in retrospect. So a whole bunch of hikers had a big ass meal today. So did a bunch of locals, this place was hopping. It was even busier early in the day as you can imagine. Happy Father's Day.Fried chicken, roast beef, ham, mashed potatoes and gravy, navy beans, green beans, cole slaw, biscuits, and cooked cinnamon apples. Lemonade to drink, mmm, and blueberry cobbler ala mode. AYCE! So we've all been hanging around the gazebo. In no particular order...46er, Storyteller, Porkchop, Jackson, Harpo, Pokey, Straw, Miss P, JP, Ollie, Mash, Stretch, Locomotive, Cudizzle, , Jonah, and myself. As Miss Janet says, "It's not always about the hiking, it's the spots in between and the people you're with." Amen. P.S. We were talking about journalling today. I mentioned my trailjournals thing. I was asked, "Oh, is that why you write so much?" I laughed. Man, if I wrote down every fun little thing, or downer moment, this thing would be huge. Ya'll have to wait for the book for the full, juicy lowdown. Peace.