It was a little misty and had obviously been raining most of the day, so we stopped at the first shelter. It was actually only 1 mile from the road (we thought we had gone at least 2 miles). The official arrival time was 4:25. 50 minutes for our first mile. Hmmmm. This could be a slower journey than we had planned on. But even at a pace of one mile per hour, we'll make it.
The shelter was relatively new, called John's Spring, funded and supported by a family in memory of their son John who loved hiking the AT. There was a small bridge right before this shelter that was built as an Eagle Scout project. But my favorite part was that this shelter had a privy (no squatting in the woods tonight) and it was a Gold Award project!
We heated up dinner which was a delicious chicken and pasta dish that Cathy had made the night before and froze overnight. It slowly thawed during the day, so we didn't have to worry about refrigeration. It was delicious. The other hikers who stayed at the shelter that night kept saying how good it smelled . . . of course, they'd been eating rehydrated dried food for the last week or in some cases, months. But it really was delicious. We allowed ourselves a little fun and had beer with our dinner. It was heavy carrying a can of beer in our pack, but we didn't carry it far, and an empty can in your trash bag doesn't weigh much to pack out.
Tonight we met:
*Jetski who stopped to chat and told us of some of the hikers coming up right behind him, but he was going on to the next shelter for the night. The section of the trail just before where we came on is called Dragon's Tooth. Apparently, it's quite rocky and was very treacherous in the rain.
*Fizz who was exhausted and even though it was only a little after 5, she set up her sleeping bag, ate a dinner that didn't need to be cooked, read a book for a little bit, and went to sleep. We did find out that she was 27 years old and from West Virginia. She's a through hiker who started the trail in March in Georgia.
*A group of 4 guys, a dad, his 2 sons ages 18 and 20, and a friend of theirs all from Akron, OH. They are section hikers and tomorrow night is their last night for this summer, but they'll be back.
*Burf, who said his camp name describes the sound that one makes right before you Barf. He was a 67-year old man who "walked on his tibia"--he had a prosthetic in his hiking shoe. He was the one that Jetski had told us about who had taken a pretty serious fall at Dragon's Tooth and had split his lip open. He said he was sore but didn't think anything was broken or damaged. Wow.
Burf and Fizz shared the shelter with us but the 4 guys preferred to tent. Well, one tented, and the family of 3 had tarps. Two of them slept on the ground, but the third had a hammock that he said was quite comfy and much drier.
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