Date: 2008-06-08
From: Pinefield Hut

To: Bearfence Mountain Hut
Miles today: 20.6

We were woken by a deer stomping his hooves and snorting right outside our tent. At first I didn¢t know what it was and I was afraid to look. I peered just my eyeballs over the tent wall to see out the screen part. Sure enough, it was a deer. A really pissed off deer. We must have set up camp right in the middle of his hang out area. Whoops. We are up early, packed quickly and on the Trail at 6:30am. It actually feels good to be out hiking that early. The air and temperature are far more comfortable, too. Other than the climb out of the shelter, which is up a steep, rocky hill, the terrain is nice. We do a quick 8 miles to Hightop Hut and stop for some ice cold water from the spring. We have some trail mix and takes the boots off for about an hour or so. We decide to get moving before the heat gets any worse¢¦it¢s already bad!There are a few climbs up Saddleback Mountain and Baldface Mountain but they are gradual and on any other day would be cake. Today however, it is dangerously hot and it zaps your energy in a matter of moments. I stop to drink, wipe the seat off my head and let my brain stop thumping for a moment. It is going to be a long, hot summer I fear. We head to South River Picnic Area. Our plan is to relax here until the most intense heat of the day passes. And so off go the packs, socks, boots and anything else that makes us hot and sweaty. Sunbeam and Busdriver are also here with us. We run into Stumpknocker who had been having a picnic with his friends, Rainbow Slick and Goosebumps Snow Princess, who he once thru-hiked with. They also have two kids, Emily and Jake. They come over and give us some awesome Trail magic. They have cream soda, oatmeal cream pies, donuts, hard candy, gummy letters and fresh fruit! That was my favorite part: apples, grapes, bananas and even a 10 pound watermelon! Sunkist and Kyanite show up and we all sit at the picnic table eating watermelon until it is gone. We use a little hiking knife to cut chunks out of it then pass it on to the Snackpacker next to us. It is seedless, juicy and delicious!We hang out in the grass doing nothing, especially not hiking. After several hours we head out. We make a quick pit-stop at Lewis Mountain Campground in the hopes of getting ice cream for dessert from the camp store. Our book said it was open until 8pm, but much to our disappointment, that was incorrect. We settle for soda from the vending machines, so it wasn¢t a total loss. We scoot on to Bearfence Mountain Hut for the night. It was over a 20 mile day but I didn¢t really feel so bad at all because of all the long breaks we had. It definitely does make a huge difference when I take my boots off during the day and let my feet relax. I was hoping I could hike the whole AT with the same pair of boots, but it¢s looking like that isn¢t going to happen. My feet have either grown or swollen so much, or maybe both, that my boots are incredibly tight. My poor little toes are squished and after only a couple of miles my whole foot feels like it¢s in a vice. I¢m going to look into new shoes in Harpers Ferry.We make tuna wraps for dinner, they are quick and easy and have minimal clean up. We hang out laughing and enjoying the company. I think the heat makes everyone a little bit punchy; things were getting quite silly. We met two young guys, Nick and Chase, on their first night out, hoping to make it to Maine. They seemed so timid and scared. (This could be do to the overwhelming presence of the Snackpackers). But then I guess we all looked pretty unsure on our first night on the AT. We set up our tent without the rain-fly again. The bugs are terrible! Brad uses bug spray and goes to bed smelling like it. Yeah! The joys of summer are upon us!