Date: 2010-05-04
From: Chatfield Shelter 

To: Knot Maul Branch Shelter
Miles today: 18.5
Weather: clear sky

Day 59Doug LaFave asked me to post more pictures of myself. I know what you are looking for, big guy, so I took some beefcake pictures of me frolicking aunatural in the forest. Watch my web photo album and they should be up soon. Anyone else have any special requests?There are a lot of things worth talking about when you cover 18 1/2 miles, I hope I can remember to put it all in.   I suppose I could be traditional and start from the beginning to the end instead of the scattetshot method I normally employ. So here goes tradition. My fire burned beautifully till way past midnight. I don't know if it was too much time to collect firewood or I was trying to keep the wild beasties away. Either way it was a joy to watch it burn from my sleeping bag. In the morning I was packed and hiking out by 8:30. I had a lot of miles to go and I didn't want to have to rush. I would be walking through a commercial area next to I-81 in about 4 miles and planned to stop their for 2nd breakfast, but first I would drop by the Settlers Museum 1 1/2 miles from the shelter. Its an 1890's farmstead that is free for AT hikers. I assume others have to pay. I suppose the place was OK but I have seen plenty of historic areas and the buildings didn't look much different than some of the old farms we pass on the AT. Right after that I finally discovered what was making that generator sounding noise I could hear from the shelter. Although I had begun to suspect it was powerlines a 1/2 mile before I reached it I was still in awe of how much power must have been running through those lines to make that much racket. Right after the powerlines I was surprised by an actual person coming up the trail, the first person I had seen in 22 hours. It was a girl called Booger and her dog Lilly. Turns out they are from Wilmington, NC the same as me. We had a good time talking for over 10 minutes while Lilly wanted to hike on Booger thruhiked the trail in 1998 and was out for a long stretch of the trail. She is in the process of opening a bar on 4th street so I need to make a stop there when I get back. I told her about 2 other people from Wilmington that I had met out here and that I should find them and make it a backpacker bar.An hour after that encounter I got my first look at the the outskirts of Atkins where the trail goes under Interstate 81. Its a shame such a shithole is smack dab in the middle of such beautiful, rolling, farm country. To put the icing on it a very loud train came through as I descended toward the road. The sultry allure I had expected of the Relax Inn during the soft light of the dinner hour turned out to look more like an overage barwinch with sagging body parts and only two teeth. I'm glad I came through at 10:30 am. Booger had advised me to shop at the Exxon rather than the shell station because they were cheaper and the cafe was better. I don't know if that's true but I was happy with the Exxon station. They had two computers free for hikers provided you either ate at the restaurant or spent $15 on resupply. I did both. I also charged my phone and my phone charger during the hour and fifteen minutes I was there. 15 minutes after I left there I met Redhat hiking southbound to Damascus for traildays. She was limping. Said she had a bad fall and twisted her ankle. I hope she will be alright. I've had so many close calls with turning an ankle or twisting a knee. It only takes one bad mistake to end a hike.The trail seemed pretty hilly today even though the profile doesn't look all that scary. Going up and down a lot of short mountains is just as tiring as going up and down one tall mountain. On top of one said mountain everything I was wearing was soaked with sweat. Everything being one T-shirt, one bandana and one nylon shorts (not counting shoes and socks)   I'd been hiking for 2 hours and it was time for a break. So I stripped off everything that was wet and hung them from trees to dry. Standing in the woods wearing nothing but shoes and socks while I air dry is beginning to happen way to often. I prefer to think of it as training for hike naked day in June. Anyone want to hike with me on that day?   Oh, and remembering that Doug wanted more pics of me I went ahead and snapped a few. Keep an eye on your email, big Guy .The hike the rest of the day became grueling but beautiful. I walked through rolling pastures with knee high grass. I also took a pic of a full skeleton of a coyote about 10' off the trail. These farm valleys are the perfect picture of serenity when taken from the top of a grassy hill. I imagine the people there have the same troubles as everyone else, but its easy to imagine shangri-la. Of course, for a thruhiker along with the beauty is all the cow patties and streams that I had no intention of getting water from. So I was pretty thirsty when I finally made it to the shelter. The last 2 miles was pretty tough. My jolly rancher sugar rush turned into a downer and I nearly hit the wall on the last uphill. I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and eventually I topped the last summit and started downhill. In the shelter tonight is Fog (already completed the trail in 2 section hikes and returned this year to do it all at once) and lobsternan who us the Guy I gave my cabin to at uncle johnnys and Groiler who jokingly declared himself to be Tintin's trail Nemesis and is also the loudest snorer I have ever heard.Also, Tintin, Fredo Kashmir and Tornado are camping about 7 miles north of me. I fully expect that if I can get out of here before 8am I will catch them still in camp. If they want to lose me they will have to hike more than back to back 14 mile days. I think they are secretly slowing down because they miss me and can't go on without me. My only question now is which of them I make my bitch first when I catch them.OK I am just babbling now. Time to pop in the music to block the earthquake that is taking place 2' away from my head. One guy already left the shelter and made his bed on the picnic table.Goodnight and sweetdreams to all of you out there not living the Walk So Far You Go Insane Dream.