Date: 2004-06-30
From: Harper's Creek Shelter

To: Failed Obsession
Miles today: 15.5

Early in the morning, the section hiker who was camped nearby took down his tent and departed. I heard him moving about and considered leaving early as well. My legs and feet were still sore from yesterday's long hike of 22 miles, so I decided to sleep later than usual.From the shelter area where I was sleeping late, the distance to the second shelter up the trail is 22 miles. To attempt such a hike after traveling over 20 miles yesterday would be pushing things. But there were some reasons to undertake this effort. The distance to the first shelter is 6.2 miles, which is too short for a single day of hiking. If I reached the second shelter, it would enable me to hike into Waynesboro a half day earlier than planned and get a jumpstart on the planning and re-supplying for the next leg of the journey. I could possibly leave Waynesboro one day earlier than planned.Deeds and Wilson were pumped up to hike all the way to the second shelter. I decided to give it a shot. I left camp around 10:00 AM and began hiking with a focused determination.It soon became evident that this hike was going to be especially hard. I encountered concentrations of rocks that slowed down my pace and made my feet sore. Since the beginning of this hike, I can not recall any stretch of the trail with so many rock concentrations to contend with.I approached a group of teenagers sitting on the top of a slope on the trail. When I approached, huffing and puffing, they stood up and cleared the way. I stopped to greet them. They were a Presbyterian youth group. When I resumed hiking, many of them offered me words of encouragement.I drew water from what appeared to be a spring located in a hole almost on the trail itself. The rays of the sun were warming up the ground around the sides of the hole. A layer of moss lined the edge of the hole. Inside the hole, a cool mist permeated the air. I placed my bottle under the flowing water and filled it up. For a moment, a cool mist rose from the entrance of the bottle. I wanted to immediately drink this mountain fresh water, but first treated it with a chemical solution just to be on the safe side. It takes 20 minutes for the chemicals to kill any bacteria.The spring water in these mountains has been exceptionally clean. During the afternoon, I stopped at a viewpoint and chatted with two local men. They confirmed the exceptional quality of the water and said that years ago the area was popular with the owners of moonshine stills.I asked him if there were any stills in operation around these parts. He said that some people still manufactured moonshine liquor. He told me he had drank some peach whiskey that had been created illegally. He described it as exceptionally smooth.Then he said, "A few minutes later, it damn near knocked me over."The day was growing late and I grew concerned about my ability to reach the shelter before dark. The trail seemed to disappear at a steep and rocky incline. I scaled the rocks with my hands and feet then rediscovered the trail. To my surprise, the trail led over these rocks. My feet were becoming really sore and I needed to find a stream to soak them in. I was also low on water. I came upon a shallow stream which descended a steep slope, flowed across the trail, and continued its flow down the slope. The best spot to fill up my bottle and soak my feet was down the slope from the trail. Accordingly, I grabbed my water bottle and prepared to make my way down the incline.Two women showed up with some children and four large dogs. With the encouragement of the woman, the dogs began slurping up the water and stepping in the water located on the trail. One of the women pointed out to me a shallow pool of water a short distance up the slope. She told me it was where she drew water. I told her I would use that pool of water. Then she asked if I could wait until the dogs were done using it. The four animals ascended the slope and slurped water from the pool and wallowed in it. I suspected they might also have urinated in it. This woman expected me to draw water from this pool? As far as I was concerned, any water that flowed downstream from this spot was unacceptable for drinking. I scaled up the slope of the hill for a short distance. There, I found a spot where the water was flowing enough for me to easily fill my bottle. When she was leaving, the woman told me that at this precise spot on the trail a hiker had recently seen a mountain lion.I rinsed my aching feet and applied moleskin to some hot spots on my heals. Then I resumed my determined pace of hiking, moving quickly from one rock to another in an effort to reach the shelter before dark. A few minutes later, the hiker Deeds appeared ahead of me above a slight rise in the trail.He looked at me and said, "Dude, you're going the wrong way."I stopped dead in my tracks, stunned to learn that I was traveling southbound on the trail. I was walking over terrain which I had previously traversed while heading northbound. I became angry at myself. I wondered where I had turned around. I wondered if I had the energy or desire to make up the distance and push on to the shelter; it would mean hiking into the night.I followed Deeds over terrain which I was hiking a third time. Talk about frustration! We stopped to rest and I finally calmed down. I joked to him about my having become mixed up.I had begun my southbound hike after becoming confused at that huge pile of rocks and boulders. The hike to the south covered about two miles. It required another two miles to catch up. In total, I wasted four miles.I put a stop to this obsessive hike and strung up my hammock somewhere on the slope of Humpback Mountain. My goal for the day¢that elusive second shelter¢was over six miles away. Even Deeds decided to forgo the quest and has camped somewhere ahead of me.There is no water at this spot, so I did not cook a hot meal that would require water for cleaning.I am sitting on a log in the near darkness. In front of me, my damp hiking clothes are hanging on a line of parachute chord tied between two trees. Behind the clothes is the trail. To the left is my tarp and hammock situated three paces away from the trail. My bear bag is hanging on a limb over the trail.Since stopping at this makeshift campsite, I have drunk almost a liter of water in order to rehydrate.I really screwed up today.