AT Miles = 18.0 / 951.1
Other Miles = 0.4 / 35.8
Total Miles = 18.4 / 985.9
Today was another easy day, more or less. I was camped with a bunch of
people at Pass Mountain Hut including Gator, Slag Line, Couscous,
Hulk, and Bookworm. We all decided that we would hike the 7 miles to
Elkwallow Wayside in the morning and get both breakfast and lunch
there. I usually get up early and am used to tiptoeing around trying
to be quiet as most of the other hikers are still sleeping, but this
morning most everybody was awake and I was the 2nd one to leave about
a quarter to seven. By 9:15 I was at the wayside and ordered a muffin
with egg, cheese, and bacon on it. I let that settle for a while, then
about 10:30 I decided it was late enough to have the first lunch of
the day and I ordered a bacon cheeseburger, fries, and a blackberry
milkshake. Yum!
A bit before noon I finally tore myself away, shrugged into my
backpack and bid farewell to the hikers who were still sitting at the
picnic table outside the wayside. I hiked the next ~ 5 1/2 miles to
Gravel Springs Hut, where I stopped for my second lunch and to refill
my water bottles. This hut is a very short distance from a trailhead
parking area on the Skyline Drive, and as I was walking over to the
spring to fill my water bottle a couple who had walked down from the
parking lot with their dog were letting the dog play in the spring.
Yuck! I yelled out "Don't let your dog play in the spring, please!"
and they scurried back up the trail without acknowledging me.
Gross! Spring water spiced with dog slobber and bacteria. Well, I went
back to the shelter and sat for another 10 minutes to let the spring
flush itself out and settle a bit, then I went back and filled my
water bottle. I treat all of my drinking water, though I wish I had a
filter for this fill up!
Back at the wayside I had discussed today's planned stopping point
with Gator and Slag Line, and we all planned to stop at a spring shown
on the map and in the guidebook at Hogwallow Flats. I left Gravel
Springs Hut with Gator for the 3 1/2 mile walk to Hogwallow Flats,
stopping to take in the view from the top of North Marshall Mountain
on the way.
Well, we never saw any spring at Hogwallow Flats, and we knew for sure
we had missed it when we came to the Skyline Drive crossing north of
it. The next sure water was another 6 or so miles away, and while we
could have pushed on that far it would have been an unpleasant way to
end the day and would also have left us way too close to town this
morning. Getting into town at 8:00AM is no good because you can't
really check into a motel that early in the morning and that leaves
you dirty and smelly and laden with a backpack as you go about town
doing your town chores. So, we crossed the road and pushed on up the
trail a ways just looking for a spot big enough to set up for the
night. We found the spot shown in the picture in the previous post and
while Gator and I were setting up for the night Slag Line showed up.
He hadn't seen the apparently invisible spring at Hogwallow Flats
either.
Since we were dry camping I didn't have enough water to take my usual
bandanna bath, and I think sleeping is going to be difficult tonight.
My body is coated in sticky sweat. I hate that.
--
~~~~~
Monkeywrench
Allen F. Freeman
allen@allenf.com
www.allenf.com
allenf.blogspot.com
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