Day 27: Nightmare Shelter, Rain and a Shiner

Summary
May 22nd

Leroy A. Smith to Kirkridge Shelter

NOBO mile# 1287.2

Tolmann’s daily mileage 13.7

Tolmann’s total mileage 263.5

<snore concerto>

<whine> “Max! Lie down and go to sleep! Max!”

<bark! bark bark!> “Max! Lie down and go to sleep! Max!”

<sigh> <thought: well at least I can get up to pee> 

<thought: no! I stepped in dog poo! Oh that’s a disgusting smell, I’ll need to clean my shoes in the morning. I hope I didn’t get any on my sleeping quilt>

<snore symphony>

<bark! bark bark!> “Max! Lie down and go to sleep! Max!”

<whine> “Max! Lie down and go to sleep! Max!”

<thought: doesn’t he understand that he’s not making things better talking to the dog that way?>

<thought: There is something wrong, that smell is blowing in the front of the shelter, hope it’s not on me!>

Bottom line, sick diarrhea dog. Man yelling at dog to lie down all night. Mega snore fest. Very little sleep. What a nightmare! Except it’s not a dream. 

But the man was gracious enough to clean my shoes. 

Meeko and I hung back after the others left to have breakfast and commiserate. While the dog had been at my feet (and trying to snuggle with them), she had lain with her head towards him (and tried to snuggle with her). We both were pretty disgusted by the whole situation. And then she was packed and on the trail with the intention of hiking to Delaware Water Gap today, nearly twenty miles. I had the 13+ miles to Kirkridge Shelter to do. 

It was a hard day, hiking on a short night’s sleep. The uphills were a drag. The trail often went in a fairly straight line, often with three or more blazes visible at a time, giving an impression of endlessness. The promised rain held off until 11:30 or so, but the morning was misty and the moisture dripped out of the trees as the wind blew. 

Then the rains dominated the afternoon. One thing about hiking in the rain: it provides zero motivation for stopping to rest or eat. So one just pushes on. So I hike fatigued and under fueled. It becomes just a fugue state of rain, step after step, feet in boots, pack pulling at shoulders or rubbing on hips. All of a sudden, I saw a girl (I think her trail name is Wildflower) beside the trail, and she said. “Isn’t this amazing!” I pulled myself out of my fog and realized that woods looked like something out of a fantasy film. It was a relief, a true blessing. Then the rain moved back in. 

There was a dangerous section of rock ledge called Wolf Rock coming up that I’d been warned to do the bypass trail due to the wet weather. The bypass trail was pretty and had a spring where I collected more water.

Then just a few more miles to the shelter. There I met Meeko just as she was heading back to the trail to push to Delaware Water Gap. Oh, to be young and carrying a lighter pack. 

Also at the shelter was a father and his two college-age daughters and one of his daughter’s boyfriend taking three days to hike from Delaware Water Gap to Wind Gap. They had a lot of questions about thru-hiking, so it was easy to be gregarious. Shortly after, a section hiker named Mosey showed up, and took over answering the questions. Then the family went off to set up their tents. Mosey and I were the only two in the shelter (thank goodness, the night before had me skittish about the shelters).

I took a few quiet moments to get out of my wet clothes, which made a huge difference with my mood. 

When the family prepared their meal they shared some banana bread and steamed broccoli; so good! 

So, a final anecdote. When hanging food bags to get them up away from the critters (known as “bear bagging”), one puts a rock in a bag attached to 50 feet of line, and throws the bag over a limb so that one can attach a food bag to th line and pull it up. The food bag should be at least ten feet high and six feet away from the tree trunk . The risk is getting hit by the rock if it bounces off the limb or the line snags as it is thrown. Today, I didn’t get hit by the rock; I got hit by my phone! 

The phone was in my coat pocket and my coat was unzipped, so when I threw the rock bag, the phone swung up and caught me just over my left eye. Oh, and I missed my throw, getting my line tangled in the tree. Ten minutes of untangling later, I tried again and got my food bag hung. I also got a black eye. Add another injury to my growing list.