Date: 2005-06-11
From: Gravel Spring Hut, SNP

To: Jim and Molly Denton Shelter, VA
Miles today: 18.6
Weather: broken clouds

I should not have kvetched about sounding like the Creature from the Black Lagoon, since I woke up this morning effectively mute. This laryngitis thing is getting ridiculous. I hiked alone most of the day, which was fine because it was a beautiful day and I was in no rush, and I couldn¢t speak anyway, but I did cross paths with a number of day hikers and weekenders who were all, ¢Oh, are you a thru-hiker? Tell me all about it!¢ and I had to smile and nod like a total asshole, and then croak like a goose (to the more persistent questioners) ¢I¢d talk to you more but I¢m a little laryngitic today ¢ sorry.¢ Then their eyes would invariably get a little wide, and they would pat my shoulder with great sympathy, as though the shock of the revelation had rendered them mute as well, or at least unsure of what to say to someone so unbalanced as to go hiking with a headcold rather than lay up in bed resting. Never say ailment can¢t be a fruitful source of amusement. It was hot today, too, and sticky ¢ the kind of weather where you know a thunderstorm is imminent, only the thunderstorm never came. Twice I surprised myself by running out of water (lame surprise, I know) and pushing to get to the next stream. Crossing out of the Shenandoahs at the northern end (southern Shennies: I¢ll be back) I was promptly greeted by a half mile of rocks, somewhat startling after the gentle trails of the park. Made it by evening to the Jim and Molly Denton Shelter (I took a LOT of breaks), which turned out to be a regular behemoth of a shelter ¢ newly built (I hear it¢s a renovated old house), with a deck and a separate sheltered cooking area and a spring-fed SHOWER. (These amenities may seem negligible to those of you in the real world, but they¢re extremely impressive when your house is, in effect, a bag of fabric that you carry with you from place to place.) Clay was the only one there when I arrived (¢I¢m so glad to see you,¢ he said. ¢I hate being the only one in a shelter. Creeps me out.¢), but Nick and Dave and Redwing and Hopeful trickled in before too long (they¢d all gone into Front Royal to resupply that afternoon. I, having my usual Food Bag of the Absurd, had no need to add anything therein.) and we all ate dinner and Dave gave me a Krazy Kake and Hopeful passed around a bag of fresh cherries, and all was lovely except for the piercingly loud swarms of mosquitoes. ¢I understand why the Dentons moved out,¢ said Hopeful, a little petulantly. I laughed. ¢Give them a little credit,¢ I said. ¢They probably had four walls when they lived here.¢In addition to the whole unable-to-speak thing, I appear to be covered in both heat rash and poison ivy, as well as a smattering of insect bites. I¢m a compendium of minor disasters. Not at my most attractive, but, as Clay tells me, ¢Just be glad you haven¢t got a fashion shoot this evening.¢ I looked at him. ¢There are many things I am glad about,¢ I croaked. ¢I¢ll add that to the list.¢ Unfortunately, though I have recently discovered in myself a fondness for treating minor ailments in a cavalier manner, I don¢t think the foot will stand for it any longer, so to speak. I shouldn¢t have walked as far as I did today; it wasn¢t bad this morning, but it¢s pretty bad now. And though I was planning to walk the 19 miles to Rod Hollow tomorrow, I don¢t think that¢s going to happen. It¢s time for some emergency intervention.