Date: 2018-06-29
From: ClarkÃÂÃÂ¢ÃÂÃÂÃÂÃÂs Creek

To: Campsite at mile 1184.6
Miles today: 18.4

Neither Cole nor I slept well last night. My fall yesterday left me achy and sore. I am not sure why Cole didn¢t sleep well and he wasn¢t certain either.I inspected my sore toe again. It looked perfectly fine. I could wiggle it with no problem. However, further up, just above my ankle was a purple swollen welt. On the other leg in almost the same position was a swollen bruise twice the size of the one on my right. How did I not feel those yesterday? They hurt to touch, but not with movement. Thank goodness!I inspected my arm. Just a scrape. My big toe still throbbed. Cantankerous digit! Get over it!We were slow going this morning. Thankfully the trail was fairly gentle. A long steady climb was followed by a long stretch of relatively flat terrain. A hiker passed me and I asked him if he had forded the creek. He said that the water had gone down over night and was no longer running over the trail. If we had waited the night on the other side, we would have crossed easily in the morning. No matter. We had chosen the sure thing rather than waiting for the unknown. Plus, fording it had added excitement to our day. The trail was wet from streams that had overflowed or redirected themselves down the trail. We had heard from a few southbounders in Duncannon about a couple of particularity deep spots that we would need to cross. We had hoped that these spots would be dry by now. We stopped to rest and use the privy at Rausch Gap Shelter. Another southbounder was there and he reiterated what we had already heard about the high water. He was a peculiar fellow, nothing like your typical thru hiker. He had a very small backpack and seemed ill equipped. He mentioned that he was going to try to catch a squirrel for dinner.¢Do you have something to cook with?¢ I asked¢Like a fire and a pot?¢ He asked.¢Ya, like that.¢¢Sure I do.¢I pushed a package of instant potatoes and a few snacks over onto his meagre pile of stuff. I¢m not certain any squirrels were really in any danger, but with all of the generosity out here on the AT, no hiker should ever let another hiker go hungry. Pay it forward. I set out from the shelter ahead of Cole who was sitting slumped over with his head down, snoozing. I reached the first water crossing. It appeared as though a beaver dam had broken and flooded the surrounding area. I was not going to be able to pass without water spilling in over the tops of my boots. Nope, that would never do. I knew how miserable I would be with wet feet. So, off came my boots and sox and on went the crocs. I crossed and found a place to sit down, dry my feet with a bandana and don my boots. I wondered how Cole would choose to navigate it. Then I wondered how long he was going to snooze.He caught up to me as we were nearing the second water crossing. His boots were sopping wet and he was more awake than I had seen him all day. He was smiling.¢Guess who I saw!¢ ¢Who?¢¢Steve! He has a trail name now. It is Blue Jay.¢Social interactions on the trail are rather unique. You spend time with a person, hiking together or just meeting up at shelters or rest spots. You might see them every day for a week. Then, for whatever reason, you don¢t see them again. One of you went a little further one day or one of you hiked a little slower. They are still there on the trail. Somewhere. Then, days, weeks or even months later, you meet up again. We have had this happen many times and such was the case with Steve, aka Blue Jay. Our last spotting had been as we were waiting for the shuttle into Franklin and he was just coming back onto the trail. That was a long time and many miles ago. As we neared the raging creek that we were going to need to cross, we spotted Snow and another hiker on the opposite side. They had passed us earlier in the day.¢Were you waiting on us?¢ I asked, surprised to find them there.¢I was watching for you.¢ He replied. Across the creek someone had put a thin tree which reached from the shore over to a much thicker tree. Snow came over to our side of the thick tree and reached out to take Cole¢s backpack across. Then he returned and steadied Cole as he crossed. He took my pack next and I followed behind. We all crossed safely and dry.Guthooks was telling us that there was no water for a few miles so we decided to fill up. As we were in the process, a south bounder came along. ¢Ugh, how am I getting across that?¢¢I¢ll take your pack while you cross the narrow section and then I¢ll hand it to you.¢¢Great thanks!¢He crossed successfully but not before telling us that there was trail magic up the road. Down the trail he headed, but quickly returned two minutes later with another north bounder. ¢I¢ll take your pack...¢ he was telling the nobo, paying it forward.The day was getting late, but we stopped at the trail magic for ice tea, water, chocolate, pretzels and conversation. Then we carried on for two and a half more slow miles before stopping at a tiny camping spot with room for two tents, ours and Blue Jay¢s.