Monday, May 24, 2010

Saturday....

Big rocks, little rocks, two 1700'+ elevation gain climbs, mud, and
rain are how I would describe yesterday. 22 gruelling miles to the
Niday shelter where I victoriously climbed into my sleeping bag at
9pm. The reason I am awake this morning at 5am, awakened by an ALARM,
no less???? Other hikers anxious to meet up with their friends so they
can go party. Uh huh. Unfortunately, having the worst night of sleep
on this trip so far, I face the notorious "dragons tooth" later today.
Apparently it's a rocky scramble with built in ladders and such. That
ought to be exciting.

Now that I have finished complaining, I can say that besides the
difficulty factor in yesterdays many adventurious twists and turns and
tumbles, I can also say that it was a gorgeous hike with many scenic
rock outcroppings, farmlands, and of course all the flowering flora.

For those of you that have never hiked a section of the A.T. through
farmland, you may not be aware of the fun way we get over all the
fences. There are these stile type contraptions that are like a big
wooden two sided ladders. These would be fun without a heavy backpack
and trekking poles, but let me tell you....these have been the source
of hours of laughter. As some hikers try to wedge themselves in the
fences trying to avoid going up and over them. Some of them are really
rickety, some are covered in poison ivy, and some are much steeper on
one side than the other. These are the ones you think...this is going
to topple over someday...is it today? Well, we climbed over probably
8 or 9 of those yesterday, just to add to the fun.
Yep, today is a new day. I am looking forward to see what kind of mess
I can stir up on this trail today.

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