Day Six

This was the hardest day so far. 

All my stuff was still wet, but Adam “salesman” said he thought my pack was only 35 lbs. He bought all MSR brand equipment and that’s all he can talk about. And talk and talk and talk.

A little way down the trail I saw a beautiful view. I took off my pack and I was standing there, admiring nature in all her glory, when Chris and these two 70 year old gentlemen came by. They had stayed at Hawk Mountain shelter with us the night before. When I asked if they wanted to sign the register, one of them said, “No, there are too many people looking for us.” Nice. While they were at the stream getting water, I mentioned to Booger Bob (trail name) that I thought they were brothers. He told me I was right.

Anyway, 22 yr old Chris took my picture. He said he thought I looked cute (That’s a first) and he was going to post it on my blog. I also learned how Chris got his trail name, “Sticks”. He grinned really big and told me that when he started the trail, he hadn’t purchased trekking poles. He made use of the local sticks on the trail along the way. And Sticks stuck. 

I saw so much along the way today, especially because I had to stop so often. It was a hard trail. I saw tiny little yellow flowers in bunches and mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. They were growing out of the tree above my head. They were white and the sun was shining in such a way that they looked paper thin. There were little purple flowers, too.

I saw a dark grey fat centipede that was about 4 inches long. I’ve also seen a couple of black centipedes with bright yellow spikes. Little punks.

Further down the trail, there was something flitting around along the path. I stopped and looked closely for the source of said flitting. They were tiny 1 inch tall grasshoppers and there were about 20 of them jumping out of the pathway as if to say “This way, Tripper!”, “Follow me!” They hopped in front of me for a good ten feet and then they disappeared. At least I know I can hike longer than they can.

I met a nice couple of kids, (I’m older than everyone by 30 years, so I can say that) Nicole and Josh, who said they would read my blog and send me words of encouragement. Everyone seemed to pass me. It took me 8 hours to go 6 miles. It was a really rough day, but I made it.