[quote context: bunch of people told us to bring a gun in case we see a bear]
"It would have been unconscionable to supplant one pound of food with one pound of steel."
- David Brill
Start: Pine Knob State Park
Finish: Camp N. Sheet Iron Rock Rd
Today: 11.5 mi
Total: 89.4 mi
Avg: 11.2 mi / day
We woke up bright and early at 6 am. After packing up my sleeping bag, pad, tent, footprint, taking down bear bags, eating breakfast, spraying bug repellant, putting on gators, knee braces, and packing everything in my bag, we were off on the trail. Normally it took us one and a half hours (you can see why) but today we were out by 7:15 AM. Guess we're falling into a more efficient routine!
Walking down the trail in the morning, the forest is alive with busy animals. I don't take out my iPod until the heat and stillness of the afternoon so i can appreciate this. Ironically, the first thing that came on the iPod, in a beautiful forest, was nature sounds! As we walked a day hiker passed us. Funny, we don't smell how bad other hikers smell but we sure can smell the soap and shampoo of day hikers! After she passed Heather and I must have looked like Hansel and Gretel sniffing our way to a gingerbread house!
As we came around a bend 4 miles into the day we spotted "easy nomad" apparently hitting himself and the air around him as he hopped up and down in circles. Bees! Apparently he disturbed a hive and these nectar-suckers were angry! He got stung between 10 and 15 times. "Easy Nomad" showed me where the hive was and while we were leaving a note warning other hikers, he got stung again. Apparently bees are my friends =)
Heather and I were not about to attempt to go past the hive so we bushwhacked our way off the trail and around, being very careful not to meet any snakes along the way.
We came to where we thought the shelter would be, looked back at the map and realized Heather forgot to carry the one with her math. She said although she was wrong she was also right. I don't understand that logic, all I know is that I have another mile to lunch and I'm hungry now. We decided not to stop for lunch there, rather we convinced ourselves to go another mile to the road crossing where there was a deli (the chipmunks agreed).
After waiting out the afternoon heat, we headed off to our campsite for the night.
- Brian (Daddy Long Legs)
P.S. I saw ice cream at the Deli...don't think I'll ever eat that stuff again!
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